Yellow Eyes
by Hunter0309
Summary: Tenchi is moving to Tokyo with his new gf, which both Ryoko and Ayeka protest to at the top of their lungs. While Tenchi is in Tokyo, Ryoko is kidnapped and sent back into space to commit more crimes. Will Ryoko want to be saved by her Tenchi or not?
1. Default Chapter

**It's Only Just the Beginning**

"Ryoko!"  
  
Tenchi sighed loudly as she didn't turn back to him, "Come back inside Ryoko..." he stopped at the edge of the doorway of the Masaki House.  
  
Floating through the air in a heated rage, Ryoko went to the roof of the house and stomped on it until she sat on the end of the red roof shingles. She was angry, but then again-she was always angry about something. This time it was for a different reason, or so she thought. "Tenchi can't leave us..." Ryoko was on the verge of tears, but she held them back as much as possible.  
  
Her mind raced as she thought of ways to make Tenchi stay and not leave for Tokyo in five days. First thought that came to her mind was kidnapping him and taking him off into the deepest part of the galaxy with her. The second thought wasn't as good as the first one so she gave up and pouted on the edge of the roof. Ryoko closed her yellow eyes in sadness; tears fell and rolled down her cheeks.  
  
Ryoko sat there in complete silence, then when she thought she had cried enough-she wiped the tears from her cat-like eyes and floated down from the roof. The door was left open for her; silently she walked inside without saying a word to anyone-not even glancing up to see Tenchi's concerned look.

Grinding her teeth, Ryoko took a seat at the dinning table next to Ayeka; the purple-haired Princess of Jurai. Immediately, she grabbed her bowl and fixed herself a bowl of rice and noodles without making a noise.  
  
"Ryoko...?" Tenchi asked from across the table from her and Ayeka.  
  
The ex-space pirate ignored him, she continued to eat her noodles and rice with her black chop sticks.  
  
Ayeka grew red, "Honestly Lord Tenchi...I don't know how you can stand putting up with Ryoko's horrible table manners all the time like that..." she pointed at the spills Ryoko was making on the table and on herself.  
  
The bowl clanked against the table and Ryoko was standing up with her yellow eyes glaring at Ayeka. "Do you want to really want to fight me today Ayeka?!" Ryoko snapped bitterly at the Princess. Her fist was raised and her body was positioned to attack Ayeka at any moment, "And why would Tenchi stand you huh? You're a snobby, big-nosed Princess!!"  
  
This time it was Ayeka's bowl that clanked against the dinning table, "Excuse me?" her voice went high-pitched like it always does. "I do not have a big nose! You're the one with a big nose-and feet too I might add!"  
  
Ryoko growled and the both of them went into their usual cat-fight staring contest, "You take that back Princess if you know what's good for you..." the blue-haired demon threatened.  
  
"Is that a threat?!" Ayeka yelled loudly which made the rest of the members of the household just roll their eyes at the both of them.  
  
Ryoko gasped, "Wow-you just finally caught on Princess?" she said in her usual cynical voice.  
  
The fight was on, the two threw back more insults at one another until they were both blue in the face-but that didn't stop them still. "No wonder Tenchi is leaving this place-he wants to get away from a messy slob like you!" Ayeka finally yelled at the top of her lungs.  
  
That hit Ryoko's vulnerable spot; she released the collar of Ayeka's dress and looked away. Keeping her head lowered as she walked away from the dinning table Ryoko thought to herself, _That can't be true...can it?_ She felt the tears coming on again and she bolted back out of the house to hide for a little while.  
  
"Ryoko!!" Tenchi jumped up from his cushion next to the dinning table and chased after her, "Come back Ryoko-she didn't mean it like that! I'm not leaving because of you!" He ran out of the house and stopped; she was already gone; desperately he glanced up and around to see if he could find her. "Ryoko!" he sighed desperately again and rubbed the back of his head as he thought of where she could have gone to. Once more he glanced around and called out her name, when he did not see any trace of her he solemnly went back inside the house.  
  
The blue-haired demon cried in front of an empty cave; the spot where she would watch Tenchi when he was a child before he had released her from the cave. She remembered when he had tried to catch dragonflies in front of her cave and tip on a rock just before he was about to catch one. A broken smile appeared on her lips, she had loved Tenchi for such a long time... The tip of her index finger traced the outline of a rock that she had picked up in front of the cave a few moments before. Ryoko would always love Tenchi, no matter what would happen to him.  
  
A surge of energy flowed through her body, she would stand up to Tenchi and force him to stay-or follow him into Tokyo like she had the last time he had went there for school. _I can't let him leave..._Ryoko was bound and determined to find a way to stay with Tenchi and protect him like she always had. She grew strong-minded as she slowly walked back to the Masaki House; Ryoko desperately thought of what to say to Tenchi to convince him to stay with her.  
  
"Don't worry Tenchi...Ryoko will come back once she has calmed down about you leaving here for Tokyo..." Washu assured Tenchi as she helped Sasami pick up the dirty rice bowls from the dinning table. Washu spotted her daughter Ryoko standing at the doorway behind Tenchi, "In fact here she is now..." her voice was a little bit perkier now.  
  
Tenchi turned his head back to see Ryoko blushing slightly, "Um...Tenchi...?" she asked shyly; which was very uncharacteristic of her to act like that.  
  
His worried expression softened, "Are you alright Ryoko?" he asked loudly, causing the rest of the girls in the house to watch the scene.  
  
"Can I talk to you alone Tenchi...?" he could barely hear her voice as she glanced back outside of the doorway. Ryoko felt vulnerable in front of everyone, especially in front of Tenchi; her emotions were controlling her-which she rarely let them do. Her yellow eyes grew large as she gave Tenchi the sad eyes, "Please Tenchi?"  
  
Nodding silently, Tenchi knew what Ryoko was up to, "Sure Ryoko..." The earth boy followed the space pirate outside of the Masaki house; they walked side by side as Ryoko led him to a familiar spot. He glanced behind Ryoko to see a dark gloomy cave; he remembered this place very well.  
  
This was the cave where Tenchi had accidentally freed Ryoko from her captivity on Earth; he was only a high school student when he had accomplished this feat. Soon enough, Ryoko's friends and enemies started to show up on Earth, turning Tenchi's life completely upside down. Being the only young boy in his household, he has been surrounded by beautiful, feuding alien women for a very long time now. Sometimes Tenchi wonders what his life would have been like if he had never released Ryoko from the cave, _Probably normal Tenchi...  
_  
Tears were in the corners of Ryoko's eyes, "Remember this place?" she took a deep breath, "I use to watch you roast yams on an open fire when you were younger...chase dragonflies...and when you cried in front of the cave when your mother died." She couldn't control herself anymore, "Don't leave me Tenchi!!" Ryoko wrapped her arms around his chest and clung to him desperately.  
  
"Ryoko-" Tenchi could feel Ryoko crying on his chest now; he had run out of words to say. Lifting his hands carefully he pulled her away from him, "I'm come visit you guys during the holidays...you know that Ryoko," he said in his normally cheerful voice.  
  
Sniffling, Ryoko shook her head at him, "Tenchi... I know you won't come back...you didn't come back last time because-because..." her heart was being torn into pieces as she remembered what he had done the last time he was in Tokyo. "I won't let you fall in love with someone else Tenchi!!" she yelled with her yellow eyes turning a slight hint of red.  
  
Tenchi went red in the face in embarrassment, "Ryoko I can't help it if I fall in love with someone that's not you!" Immediately after he had said those words, he bit his lip and watched Ryoko disappear in front of his eyes. _Good going Tenchi, you hurt Ryoko's feelings again...You should have kept you fat mouth shut. _He lifted his eyes to see the empty dark cave in front of him, he could remember how afraid he was of Ryoko when had first released her. There was a sharp pain in his heart, like he should have told Ryoko the truth...and the rest of the Masaki household about him permanently staying in Tokyo. Tenchi had no plans of returning home to deal with all of the feuding alien women in his house, he felt horrible for feeling this way about them.


	2. Returning Home

**Returning Home**

Tenchi awoke the next morning, half expecting to see Ryoko floating above him patiently waiting for him to wake up. When he could see clearly he realized there was no Ryoko in his room this time. "Ryoko...?" Pulling himself out of his bed, he dragged his feet downstairs to find the kitchen completely empty, "Where did everyone go?" Scratching his head in a confused manor, he stumbled outside of the house to see all of the alien girls circling around Ryoko and Ayeka, "Not again..." Tenchi sighed depressingly.

"Why don't you leave Tenchi and me alone? Isn't it clear enough for you that Tenchi loves _me_ and not _you_?!" Ayeka snorted a high-class laugh as Ryoko stood there taking the insults with her fists clenched. "How could he love-no even _like_ a space pirate like you? You're so bossy and so sloppy-no Jurai born prince would want to love you!"

"Ayeka stop it! That's enough!" Tenchi yelled as he started to push by the group of girls that were circled around the two.

"You should just go back to space Ryoko-you're not needed or wanted around here!"

Something in Ryoko snapped it could have been her sanity or her hand that she threw out at Ayeka's face. But it wasn't Ayeka that she had sent to the ground, it was Tenchi who had the bloody nose. "Tenchi!" screamed all the girls when they finally realized that he was hurt.

Tenchi had gotten in front of Ayeka to stop the two of them fighting; he was the one who was hit with Ryoko's powerful right jab. "Look at what you have done!! Lord Tenchi are you alright?" Ayeka knelt down next to him as he held his bloody nose with his left hand. "Always results to brute strength..." the alien princess muttered under her breath.

Sasami, Washu, and Mihoshi pushed by Ryoko; who was standing there shocked beyond all reason; to help Tenchi's nose stop bleeding. "We can try out one of my new inventions now!" Washu, the mad scientist, cried out enthusiastically.

_He was protecting Ayeka..._Ryoko thought to herself sadly, _Maybe he really doesn't love me..._Lowering her head, the shadows covered the expression on her face; Ryoko turned away from the overly loud group of girls that were fusing over Tenchi's bleeding nose. No one heard her leave the front step of the Masaki house, she left to go and relax in the hot springs underground the house.

"I'll go get a warm cloth for Tenchi!" Sasami offered loudly as her sister, Ayeka, continued to touch Tenchi's nose making him scream in pain even louder.

"No-no! This is perfect-we can try my new bone-mender machine!" Washu cried out in her crazy scientific voice.

Tenchi held his nose between his index and middle finger, "Mone-mendr mashie?" he started to get nervous. "I bope this doesbent envolva eletrisipy Waspu!" his words were broken up as he continued to talk while holding his nose together with his fingers.

Meanwhile, back at the hot springs, Ryoko dipped into the warm water to relax her aching muscles. Her mind raced with crazy and ill thoughts about getting rid of that annoying Ayeka before she could do some real damage to Ryoko's and Tenchi's future. What really worried her was what Tenchi had done and had said to her yesterday, _Was he already in love with another girl?_ Another horrible thought crossed her mind; _If Ayeka is so keen on me leaving her with Tenchi...does she know something that I don't?_

Holding her breath, she went under the water for a few moments and came back up, "Tenchi..." she sighed sadly as she thought more about him. She decided to lean her head against the edge of the hot springs and close her eyes to rest; all she could think about was Tenchi.

"Meow..." cried an animal-like voice from behind Ryoko's head, it was Ryo-oki. This rabbit-like space pet belonged to Ryoko; Ryo-oki was her spaceship in fact. Ryo-oki, like all Earth rabbit-like creatures, is crazy for carrots. The two were connected mentally; Ryo-oki always knew when her master was depressed; they could communicate to one another without speaking a word. The brown rabbit-like space pet rubbed its head up against Ryoko's making a purring sound. "Meow meow!"

Opening her eyes, the space pirate found a pair of yellow eyes staring right back into hers, "Nothing is wrong Ryo-oki...I was just thinking to myself..." she reassured her pet with a fake smile. Ryoko closed her eyes again, "You better get back to Sasami, she'll be worried if you are gone for dinner...I heard she was making carrot soup tonight..."

Ryo-oki gave a cry of joy; that was her favorite soup; she bumped Ryoko's head for a sign of affection and hopped away to find Sasami so she could get something to eat. "Meow!!"

With another large sigh, Ryoko placed her arms behind her head and tried to fall asleep in the warm water. After thirty minutes of resting, she grumbled when she heard Sasami yell out that it was dinner time. Getting out of the water, she wrapped a towel around herself and slowly went upstairs to grab some regular clothes to wear for the rest of the night. As she headed towards her room, she heard Tenchi talking with his grandfather Yosho in Tenchi's bedroom.

"So that's why you've been keeping it a secret from everyone in the house for such a long time Tenchi..." Yosho sounded like he finally understood everything now.

"I just couldn't bring myself to tell Ryoko or Ayeka the real reason of why I'm moving to Tokyo..."

Ryoko floated above the doorway of Tenchi's room as she listened to them without being noticed, _Moving? Why is Tenchi moving to Tokyo for when he has a house here?! _

Tenchi scratched his forehead, "I'll have to tell them all sooner or later though... I don't know how Ryoko will handle it-she's been pretty angry with me for the past two days about this. Maybe if I bring Lily over for dinner tomorrow, the girls can see how happy I am with her..."

With a loud thud, Ryoko fell to the floor in front of Tenchi's open doorway; she was pale in the face as she stared at Tenchi with complete horror. "How could you...?" Ryoko cried out loudly as she pushed herself off of the floor, "Don't you care about me at all?!"

Yosho and Tenchi were both red in the face; they almost looked alike; "I-I...I'm in love with Lily..." Tenchi whispered as he took a step towards her.

Her heart was pounding in her chest, "Who the hell is this _LILY_-Tenchi!" her right hand was raised in the form of a fist. "Why haven't I heard of her before?!" Ryoko demanded as she watched her almost perfect life with Tenchi crumble before her eyes.

"I met her five months ago, she's in one of my art classes...We're moving in together in Tokyo since we have the same art classes this year," he embraced himself for Ryoko's cries of divergence with such arrangements without asking her first.

Ryoko stood there in his doorway with a defeated look, "You couldn't tell me Tenchi...?" tears streamed down her cheeks as she took a step away from the boy she loved.

Tenchi's face grew emotional when he realized that Ryoko was broken-hearted with the news, "I didn't want to hurt you any more Ryoko..."

"Hurt me?!" she cried loudly in pain, "I love you Tenchi! Doesn't that mean anything to you?!" Ryoko tired one last time to convince Tenchi that he loved her too-she knew that he did. When he did not say anything back, Ryoko turned away with even more tears strolling down her cheeks, "_I love you Tenchi_..." she whispered in a broken-hearted voice.

Biting his lip, Tenchi didn't know what to do-he was in love with Lily or so he thought he was. As he took a step towards Ryoko she floated into the air and disappeared from sight, Tenchi's hand was reaching out to touch her shuddering shoulder, "Ryoko..."

"Lord Tenchi?" Ayeka was standing at the top of the stairs; tears were streaming down her cheeks too. "You're leaving us for good?" the Jurai Princess had heard every word that Tenchi had said to Ryoko. When Tenchi just nodded his head, Ayeka ran down the stairs bawling her eyes out.

Ryoko went to a secluded place, sitting next to the Jurai tree that Ayeka and Sasami had planted when they had first come to Earth. Crying silently to herself, she watched the ripples on the lake that surrounded the Jurai tree, "Tenchi..." She leaned against the tree, closing her eyes she screamed out Tenchi's name to relieve the stress that she had bottled up in her. "You damn bastard..." Ryoko's hands were grasping the crisp grass to help her contain her anger. Keeping her eyes closed, more tears rolled down her cream-colored skin, "_Tenchi_..."

That night Ryoko never returned to the Masaki house, Ayeka cried down in the hot springs during dinner and did not return to her room until very late at night. The Masaki household kept silent for the next two days, every member mourning that Tenchi would leave the very next morning for Tokyo. Sasami sniffled back the oncoming tears when she cooked Tenchi's favorite dishes those last days, while Mihoshi hugged Tenchi goodbye every time she saw him in the house. Washu kept to her room, working on a new invention for Tenchi before he leaves for Tokyo. Tenchi's father and grandfather helped Tenchi pack, giving Tenchi hugs goodbye the night before.

Tenchi was worried for Ryoko, she had never returned to the house for three nights now. Sasami, Mihoshi, Washu, Ryo-oki, and Tenchi went outside searching for Ryoko on the third night. Even Ayeka joined the search party; she missed her daily fights with Ryoko and making fun of her boyish-ways. Their search was unsuccessful that night, the girls sadly trudged home while Tenchi stayed out to look for Ryoko some more.

He never knew but Ryoko was watching him as he called out her name, she sat on a tree branch directly above him. There was deep pain in Ryoko's heart as she glanced down upon him, she wanted to jump down from her hiding spot and hug him so she could say her final goodbyes to him. She stopped herself from doing so; Tenchi would not stay no matter what Ryoko would do. He was in love with someone else; there was no need for her anymore, _I'm useless..._

Tenchi shivered in the night air, he glanced around the area and called her name once more before he headed back towards the Masaki house to warm up. Of course Tenchi felt like the reason Ryoko had left was completely his fault; he kicked a pebble all the home; but he was in love with 't Ryoko accept that? He shook his head; _Ryoko will never accept me falling in love with another woman_...

Once he was out of sight, Ryoko dropped down from the cherry blossom tree; shaking the red petals out of her blue hair; and rubbed her arms to stay warm. The tears on her cheeks nearly froze as she stood there watching the outline of Tenchi walking away from her.


	3. Plans for the Enemy

**Plans for the Enemy**

Just before sunrise, Ryoko snuck back into the Masaki house to get her daily supply of food; which was usually enough to feed six people in one week. As she rummaged through the refrigerator throwing out the food that she hated to eat; which were conveniently Ayeka's favorite types of food; she heard a small footstep behind her. Poking her head above the white door, Ryoko found Ayeka standing to the side of her with a weird expression on her face. "We must fight for Lord Tenchi..." Ayeka whispered to her arch nemesis.

Taking a piece of bread out of the fridge, Ryoko grinned evilly with Ayeka just before she stuffed the entire piece of bread into her mouth.

For the next hour, the two tried to come up with plans to get rid of the new girlfriend that Tenchi was bringing over for dinner. "Can't we do what we always do?" Ryoko grumbled as she chewed on an apple; grossing Ayeka out whenever the space pirate talked with her mouth open with bits of apple in there still.

"You mean scare her with your table manners?" Ayeka said coyly as she thought long and hard of what to do with this Lily character. "We must find another way...Lord Tenchi is always so protective of them whenever we try to tell him the truth about how wrong they are for him..."

Tossing the apple out the window behind her, Ryoko grinned as she came up with an idea, "We could make Tenchi realize that we need him here to protect us..." she suggested. "After dinner we could have a little _accident_ happen, and I could release that water demon downstairs in the hot springs."

Ayeka frowned, "Then Lord Tenchi will try to save the girl since she can't protect herself from demons! That won't work-"

"Not unless you accidentally _lock_ the pitiful earth girl in a room where she can't get out to be saved by Tenchi... He'll be too occupied with the demon, while you and I get rid of the girl and dump her back in Tokyo where she _belongs_-without our Tenchi!" Ryoko beamed at her wonderful idea, it was the second best one she had come up with in the past week; which made her feel very pleased with herself.

"You forgot one tiny detail Ryoko," the Jurai Princess grumbled under her breath, "Lord Tenchi knows that you can control any demon now since you have all of your jewels..."

Kicking one of the table's legs, Ryoko muttered some swear words just as Washu groggily came into the kitchen area. "What are you two doing up so early?" Washu yawned loudly as she stretched her arms above her head, "In fact-what are you two doing sitting right next to one another and not trying to pull each other's hair out?"

Getting up from her chair and glaring at her mother, Ryoko continued to mutter more words as she headed upstairs to her room to get some sleep. Ayeka surprisingly followed her, and they both resumed whispering plans on how to win back Tenchi from that earth girl Lily.

Finally when everyone was awake, Tenchi made everyone come into the kitchen so he could tell them; them being mostly the alien girls; about the rules for when Lily comes over for dinner. "Now I want you all to act normal around her, that means no flying around-no demons-no using swords against her..." Tenchi glanced over at Ryoko to make sure she was hearing him say this; curtly nodding at him, Tenchi turned his attention back to the rest of the group of girls. "No crazy experiments-no guns-nothing out of the unordinary do you all understand? I hope you all will at least try to accept her into the house for some dinner with us, that is all I ask of you girls."

Once that was done, Sasami fixed breakfast while Ryoko and Ayeka sat next to one another whispering back and forth constantly. "No no-that won't work...the house isn't strong enough..." Ryoko said a little too loud as Tenchi sipped down some warm soup.

"Then let's hear if you have a better plan!" Ayeka shouted at Ryoko as her bottled anger was starting to show. A second later, Ayeka coughed an apology to the blue-haired demon realizing that she should have not yelled at Ryoko since they were working as a team that day.

_What are they planning now? _Tenchi thought sourly as he finished the rest of his soup. _Probably another way of how to get rid of the new girl I'm bringing into the house, it's always the same thing. But they won't win this time, Lily isn't related to me, controlled by a powerful alien being, and she's not taking me away from everyone without letting me have my say in it. Lily is perfect for me...and I love her-Ryoko and Ayeka will not be able to ruin that between us no matter what._ Picking up his soup bowl, Tenchi got up from the dinning table and went to the sink to wash his dirty dish; he could hear Ryoko laughing at one of Ayeka's plans that she thought was unacceptable to get the job done.

The rest of the day, Ayeka and Ryoko made and eliminated plans on how to execute the girl from Tenchi's heart and life as quickly as possible. Tenchi had left with his father three hours before dinner, they took the car so they could drive to Tokyo and pick up Lily for dinner. Ryo-oki and Sasami prepared the meals for the special occasion; well Ryo-oki just ate the leftovers that Sasami didn't use in the meals; while Washu and Mihoshi tried to hang decorations around the house to make it feel homier.

When the time had come for Tenchi to be arriving with his new girlfriend, all the girls scrambled around the house cleaning or booby-trapping everything. "We're here!" Tenchi called from outside loudly as he ran up the steps to the front door and reached for the doorknob.

_Please let this girl be just as horrible for Tenchi like the others..._Ryoko thought to herself as Tenchi came inside the house holding Lily's hand in his.

Everyone's first reaction to Lily was that she was an exact copy of Ryoko; even Ryoko could see a resemblance as she felt like she was staring right into a mirror. Lily had teal-colored hair, golden eyes, and a beautiful smile to make her deadly attractive. Her teal hair was up in a pony tail; it bobbed back and forth as she turned her head in all directions to see everyone and everything in the house.

The image of Tenchi holding Lily's hand made Ryoko think back to when Tenchi had done the same with her. He was of course, in love with someone else but Ryoko wouldn't hear of it and she decided to do something about it. One day after school, Ryoko appeared out of nowhere in Tokyo wearing a black dress with her hair in a ponytail waiting for Tenchi to come walk her way. She knew that she had taken Tenchi's breath away; he was shocked when he had realized that it was actually her in a dress in the middle of the crosswalk and not someone else. For once, Ryoko felt that Tenchi was focused on her-no one else was in the picture this time; just her and Tenchi. After karaoke and dinner, Tenchi and Ryoko walked down the dark streets next to one another. A few seconds later, Tenchi had reached out for her hand and he held it as they walked together. Ryoko had suddenly stopped and glanced down to her hand that was now in his. That was the only time Tenchi had even shown his true affections towards Ryoko; this does not seem much to an observer...but she had been waiting for Tenchi to accept her for a very long time.

Snapping back to reality, Ryoko stared down the newcomer as she tried to introduce herself to the space pirate. "Hi! I'm Lily-" her voice sounded like a soft bell ringing off in the distance; that was the only thing that Ryoko and her did not have in common. "Are you Ayeka or Ryoko that Tenchi has been telling me about so much?"

"I'm Ryoko," she snorted bitterly at her competition for Tenchi's affection, _Try and take my Tenchi away from me, huh? That won't happen-I'll kill you before you can..._

Ayeka moved to the right of Ryoko, "I'm Ayeka..." she shook Lily's hand lightly while thinking of ways to kick her out the front door. _You won't be here for long..._she though smugly to herself.

Sighing with relief was Tenchi in the background; _At least they're getting along well_... He took Lily's hand in his once she had met everyone in the house, "Enjoying yourself?" he whispered in her ear as he escorted her to the dinner table.

"Of course! I love meeting new people," Lily squeaked happily as she gave Tenchi a kiss on the cheek.

"_Of course! I love meeting new people_," mocked Ryoko as she leaned against the railing to the wooden stairs in the center of the room. _She's not like me at all...she's a total pushover like Ayeka!_

Walking over, Ayeka stood next to Ryoko with a glum expression, "Is it just me or does Lily resemble you and has my personality?" she asked quietly.

The Jurai Princess was right; Lily was a combination of Ayeka's personality and Ryoko's good looks. _Is Tenchi in love with the both of us? Is that why he never chose between the two of us? Does he love us equally...?_ Ryoko did not like the way this was turning out; the cards she was dealt with were not in her favor this time around in the game.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Tenchi kissing Lily's hand as he took a seat next to her; "I'll put an end to this now..." Ryoko swore as she went over to the dinner table and sat directly across from Lily.

"Is there something wrong Ryoko?" Tenchi asked when he noticed that she had slammed her glass down against the wooden table to pull his attention away from gawking over Lily.

_How can he ask me that when he knows how I feel about him?! Why won't he give me a chance? Why..._Shaking her head, Ryoko finished her drink in one quick swallow and poured herself another one.

"Everyone ready for dinner?" Sasami called from the kitchen as she came into the dinning area with plates of food in her arms; Ayeka helped her little sister with the rest of the dishes that need to be carried to the table.

"This looks great Sasami!" Mihoshi joyfully cried as she reached out to grab a yam in a bowl in front of her. "OW!" she cried out when she had figured out that she would have to use her chop sticks to grab it since it was too hot to touch.

Another painful memory flooded Ryoko's mind, back to when Tenchi was only a child and she was still imprisoned in that dreadful cave. Tenchi use to roast yams on a fire right in front of the cave, crying out loud when he would try to grab one off of his stick when he thought it was cooked enough. The earth boy use to always come by Ryoko's cave; it cheered her up most of the time when he did something childish; but he had stopped coming after a while. He was too old to believe in demons anymore when he started school, so he ceased hanging around the cave and spent more time reading books. As the years passed by, he completely forgot about Ryoko that was his best friend when he was so young. By mistake he had released Ryoko, it was only a mistake...that was what pained her the most whenever she thought about it. That was the only reason she had attacked Tenchi that night at the school the day she was resurrected; he had forgotten about her when she had thought about him everyday and sat patiently outside the cave waiting for him to come back and see her after school.

Lily helped herself to some food, _I hope it's poisoned_, Ryoko wished as she pushed her plate away from her. "So how did you meet Tenchi, Ryoko?" the earth girl asked when she was finished serving herself a bowlful of rice.

As Ryoko opened her mouth to reply, Tenchi shook his head at her to signal that Ryoko could only say the "normal" parts of it. "I met Tenchi when he was a baby," she said in a soft voice; almost matching Lily's smooth voice; "I've known him ever since then..."

"Wow!" gasped Lily with some excitement in her voice, "You must be much older than you look then!"

Ayeka bursted out laughing, "She-called-you-old!" she snickered at Ryoko; who was clenching her hands to contain her surging anger from that rude comment.

Lily turned her attention to Ayeka, "How did you meet Tenchi?" she took a bite of her yams and chewed on it contently as the princess thought of what to say.

"I met L-Tenchi a few years ago; he rescued my sister and me from an uncivilized thief-who we never should have even allowed in the house..." Ayeka's "uncivilized thief" was her impression of Ryoko when she had first met her. Like Ayeka always says to Tenchi, "Once a barbarian thief, always a Ryoko."

"And how did you meet Tenchi, huh?" Ryoko's teeth were grinding as she asked that dreadful question to her enemy.

Again, Lily was excited about being asked the same question she was asking them; she cleared her throat like she was preparing to make a long and boring speech which made Ryoko roll her eyes. "You're right Princess," the space pirate hissed in Ayeka's ear as she leaned back, "She _is_ just like _you_...boring _and_ annoying all at the same time..." She snickered to herself when Ayeka went red in the face and opened her mouth to argue but stopped because Lily began talking.

Lily's golden eyes shined brightly as she glanced into Tenchi's, "I met Tenchi exactly five months ago... We were taking the same art class and we were partnered together to do a group sketch of one another." Once more her eyes glanced back to Tenchi; like she couldn't be apart from him longer than two seconds; "After a few hours of sketching, we got to know one another and Tenchi asked me out to dinner for the next night."

"Oh how _exciting_ that is for you..." Ryoko snapped in a pissed tone as she swallowed her drink in only a few gulps.

Lily lowered her chop sticks, "Did I say or do something that offended you Ryoko?" she asked in a puzzled voice.

_DID YOU DO SOMETHING TO OFFEND ME?! I WON'T TAKE ANYMORE OF THIS BULLSHIT! _Slamming her fist on the table; making the plates and the glasses move slightly and shake; Ryoko finally lost her temper and leaped up from her seat to stand above Lily. "What do you want with Tenchi?!" she demanded with her hand pointing at Lily, "Tell me what you are up to!" Ryoko was exceptionally good at smelling out rats, she could tell whenever someone was lying or had different intentions than what they were saying.

"RYOKO!!" Tenchi yelled loudly as he was about to get up from his seat to stop Ryoko from attacking his girlfriend.

"I know you're lying..." hissed Ryoko as her energy sword appeared in the hand she was pointing at Lily. "TELL ME THE TRUTH!"

With a loud scream, Lily bolted from her seat and tried to make it to the front door, "Tenchi help me!" Lily cried out more pleas as Ryoko appeared at the front door with her yellow energy sword pointing at Lily's chest.

Backing her up into the wall, Ryoko smirked at Lily, "I want the truth..." she edged her sword a few inches away from Lily's cream-colored throat, "TELL ME!"

"THAT'S ENOUGH RYOKO!" Tenchi ran over to Lily; she wrapped her arms around him and began sobbing on his shoulder from Ryoko's hurtful threats. Giving Ryoko a hateful look, he hugged Lily in his arms as she continued to cry on him.

Lowering her sword, Ryoko had never seen Tenchi give her such a hateful look before. Sure he has given her mean looks, but this one was the worst; like the look you would give your enemy. Something caught her immediate attention; as Lily clung to Tenchi, Ryoko spotted a scar that started at her wrist and ran up halfway up her arm. _Where have I seen that scar before? I know I've seen it-_Ryoko gasped suddenly and the color drained from her face.

"Tenchi don't get near her!" Ryoko cried out as she raised her sword again; ready to swing at Lily at the opportune moment. "She's lying to you Tenchi...she's not this Lily character that you think she is!" she was begging Tenchi to believe her.

The crying stopped, "Of course I'm Lily-who else would I-" Lily growled at Ryoko as she turned on the space pirate.

"Shut-up you bitch! I know it's you...tell Tenchi the truth Eriko!!" Ryoko's eyes were glowing red; this was the first time in centuries she was showing her true hated for someone. "Don't trust her Tenchi...GET AWAY FROM HER TENCHI!" she cried desperately when Tenchi just stood there holding Lily even tighter in his arms. "She's lying..." Ryoko watched as Tenchi gave her another hateful look. "Don't you believe me Tenchi?" the energy sword disappeared from her hands and she took a step away from the both of them.

"_BELIEVE YOU RYOKO?!_" Tenchi boomed at the space pirate, "You do this every time I fall in love with a nice girl! I'm sick of it Ryoko, it's always the same..." he let go of Lily so he could stand in front of Ryoko face to face. "I wish I _never_ freed you from that stupid cave...you should have been left in there to rot for the rest of your afterlife. If I hadn't have freed you, I would have a perfectly normal life and none of you _freaks_ would be in it!"

Tears formed in Ryoko's eyes, "I'm just protecting you Tenchi..." she whispered in a painful voice as her heart broke into tiny pieces.

"Well I can protect myself Ryoko...I've never need _you_ to protect _me_," every word that Tenchi said stabbed into Ryoko's bruised and crumbling heart as he gave her another hateful look.

"_Tenchi..._" Ryoko was sobbing now; she didn't care if everyone saw her crying now, not even that liar Lily. "I-" she bit her trembling lip and faded away from the living room with tears rolling down her cheeks.

Lily hugged Tenchi tightly around the chest, "I want to go home Tenchi..." she whispered in his ear in a small voice.

"I'll take you home right now Lily...I'm sorry about all of this," he was still angry with Ryoko for trying to attack his love. _She does this to me every single time a new girl enters my life that I love very dearly. I'm so sick of it...I hate her for that..._ Taking Lily's arm, he took her to the car and started to drive her home without saying a word to the other girls or his father and grandfather; who were all standing in the dinning area with their jaws dropped down.

While Tenchi drove Lily home, Ryoko sat outside the abandoned cave with a defeated look upon her brow. _Tenchi is leaving me forever...I know it..._ Ryoko picked up a stone that was next to her feet and threw it as hard as she could across from where she was sitting. _Why won't he believe me?! I only say that because I love him and I don't want him to get killed...That Eriko is bad news..._Another tear fell as she lowered her head and thought more ill thoughts to herself, _That look he gave me..._Off in the distance Ryoko could hear Ayeka calling her name; lifting her head up she got up from her stony seat with a small sigh. "I'm sorry Tenchi..." Ryoko whispered as she disappeared from sight when Ayeka came into the clearing to find no one by the empty cave.

"Ryoko?" Ayeka called out when she swore she heard the space pirate's voice.


	4. Foolish Love

**Foolish Love**

"I'll miss you Tenchi!!" Sasami sobbed loudly as she ran over to him and hugged him tightly across his hips. "You promise to write us?" she wiped the tears out of the corners of her eyes as she looked into his kind eyes.

Tenchi smiled, "Of course I will Sasami...I'll write to you everyday..." he patted her on the head. "You make sure everyone takes care for me won't you Sasami?" he asked her in a cheerful voice. Ayeka's sister just sniffled and nodded in reply as she ran back into the house crying.

Next to say goodbye to Tenchi was Mihoshi, she hugged him so tightly that she knocked the air out of him. After five more hugs, Tenchi finally got free of Mihoshi's grip and wished her luck with her new position in the Galaxy Police; after he had caught up on his breathing. Mihoshi wiped a tear from her eye, she was a natural blonde...she never really knew what was going on around her.

Ayeka stood at the doorway, frozen there watching Tenchi say goodbye to his father and grandfather. After saying goodbye to them, he glanced up to the alien princess, "Not going to say goodbye Ayeka?" he half-joked to her.

She held back for a moment and then bolted to him with her arms open; she hugged him tightly around the neck. "Take care Lord Tenchi..." Ayeka whispered to him as she gave him another small hug. "Promise to keep in touch," she had regained her royal composure as she bowed her head in respect to Tenchi.

Before Tenchi could say goodbye, Ayeka ran back inside the house; again bawling her eyes out about Tenchi leaving them. The last to say goodbye was Washu, she presented him with a small black box. "Open this box whenever you want to come home," the scientific genius stated simply. "It's a teleportation device; it will bring you back here no matter where you are. I think it might come in handy for you someday..." Washu gave him a big grin and whistled as she walked away back inside the house.

With a small sigh, Tenchi noticed that Ryoko was not here to say goodbye; he lowered his head as he grab his two bags. Tenchi was going to take earth's form of transportation, a car. Opening its passenger's door, he tossed his bags into the blue car without a care. He walked around the other side of the car to get to the driver's seat, opening the door quickly he jumped into the car. Loudly slamming the door, he started the little blue car and put it into gear. _Its better if I don't say goodbye to Ryoko...I'm mad at her enough as it is. _

As he drove off, Ryoko was watching from on top of the roof wanting him to turn back. "Tenchi come back!!" she yelled out desperately as he continued to drive away without hearing a word she had said. "Tenchi!" Ryoko jumped off the roof and ran after his car; which was at the entrance of the driveway now. Panting, she ran as fast as she could with tears streaming down her cheeks, "TENCHI!!"

The car turned right at the edge of the driveway to get to the main road; Ryoko jumped over the stone wall that surround the Masaki's property, tripping once she had landed on the other side. Once she was back up on her feet, Tenchi had turned down another street and was gone from her sight. "TENCHI COME BACK!!" Ryoko fell to her knees sobbing with her hands covering her face, _Come back..._

That was it...that was the end to her life-he was gone and he belonged to someone else. Ryoko had lost a fool's game, she started alone and she ended up alone. Tenchi would never come back, he would marry that earth Lily character and live happily ever after without Ryoko the space pirate. Sure Tenchi has dated other earth girls before, but he never kept it a secret from Ryoko...it must be serious.

Ryoko felt a hand touch her shoulder; she turned her head back to see a face she never wanted to see again. "Time to go home Ryoko..." he whispered as the two suddenly disappeared from the road to somewhere above the ground.

Meanwhile back at the Masaki house, an alarm was ringing loudly everywhere to warn the members of the household that something was wrong. "My computer is being hacked!" Washu dropped her rice bowl on the floor and bolted for the door to her room. In her socks, she slid across the floor effortlessly and pushed the door open. Jumping into her chair, she furiously pushed keys and numbers on a keyboard that was in front of her main computer.

Someone was defiantly hacking in Washu's computer, but for what reason and for what kind of information? As she continued to type more codes, she realized that someone was trying to get into all of her files-they were stuck trying to figure out all of the passwords to the information. "Who is doing this?!" Washu was becoming frustrated as she kept changing the passwords to her files to confuse the hacker even more.

"What's wrong Washu? What's the rush for?" Mihoshi asked in a ditzy voice as Washu's fingers started to smoke since she was typing to fast.

Ayeka and Sasami came into Washu's room with their fingers plugged into their ears, "Can't you turn that noise off?!" Ayeka screamed at the top of her lungs at the mad scientist.

"Not until they stop trying to hack into my computer's data," Washu muttered through grinded teeth as she pushed more and more keys. Suddenly the alarm shut off, making the three girls sigh with relief. "Wa-?" Washu typed in more codes to find that the hacker had finally stopped trying to get into her computer. "Hehe..." she laughed smugly, "Showed them...thought it would be easy to hack into my computer, eh?" Washo laughed even more making Ayeka roll her eyes at the crazy scientist.

Mihoshi glanced around the spacious room Washu had, "Hey is your room bigger than mine?"

----------------------------

Tenchi hummed to himself as he drove along the road, trying to keep himself in a better mood than he was. All he could think about was the look Ryoko had given him when she had overheard him talking with his grandfather and when he had yelled at her the night before; he had never seen Ryoko give him that look before. That look broke his heart every time his mind replayed it in front of him as he drove; _Ryoko was in lot of pain..._

His stomach growled loudly and rumbled to tell him that it was time for a lunch break. Sasami had packed him a lunch she had made especially for him; all healthy food to keep Tenchi awake while he was driving. Keeping one hand on the steering wheel, Tenchi reached with his free hand to open the bag of food Sasami had packed. The first thing he pulled out of the bag was a carrot; this was a mistake.

"MEOW!" Ryo-oki leaped out of its hiding place from the backseats and attacked the carrot in Tenchi's hand. Tenchi screamed like a girl, nearly running the blue car off of the road as Ryo-oki and him fought for the carrot.

Tenchi shook the space pet that was connected to his hand and the carrot, "RYO-OKI!" Finally after swerving out of the way of an oncoming car, Tenchi pulled off to the side of the road to deal with the creature with both of his hands. "What do you think you are doing Ryo-oki?!" he watched as she let go of his hand and landed in the passenger seat; the carrot had been devoured already. "You can't come with me! You have to stay with Ryoko and Sasami!!" he glared at Ryo-oki as she gave him huge sad eyes with an equally sad face. "Urghhh..." Tenchi grumbled as he pulled out a black box and grabbed Ryo-oki with his other hand. "Now stay home this time Ryo-oki..." he warned the space pet as he opened the transportation box.


	5. Forgetting Someone?

**Forgetting Someone?**

Ryoko awoke in a cold dark place; she could smell smoke somewhere off in the distance of where she was sitting. Her cat-like eyes searched her surroundings; it was too dark to tell where she was. There was one thing she knew for certain-she wasn't on Earth anymore...

"Looks like our guest has finally awaken..." cooed a soft voice ahead of where the ex-space pirate was. Lights flickered on; which blinded Ryoko for a moment; to reveal the interior of a space ship. "I bet you remember this place Ryoko..."

_I'm on Eriko's ship!! That bitch kidnapped me!_ Narrowing her eyes, she watched as Eriko got up from her seat at the control area of the ship and walked smugly over to Ryoko. _Why hasn't she killed me yet...?_ Ryoko remained still trying to conserve her energy to attack Eriko as she stood above Ryoko with a pleased expression.

Eriko was in her true form this time, her jet black hair caressed her shoulders as she laughed at the sight of Ryoko on the floor below her. "Oh how the mighty have _fallen_," her emerald eyes shined in the ship's lights, "Enjoy the trip?"

Grinding her teeth, Ryoko kept her mouth shut but glared at Eriko throughout the entire conversation. _What does she want with Tenchi?_ That was the only thought running through her mind right then; deep down she hoped that he was safe on Earth.

"Ooohh, a little testy this morning are we? You didn't struggle when my brother took you here...oops! Silly me, you were too busy _crying_ over Tenchi _leaving you_ to notice him..." Eriko's voice was mocking as she pointed to the other seat at the controls, "You remember my dear brother Puck..." Her brother did not glance over at them; he kept his eyes straight ahead on the computerized screen.

_You did not just mock me..._Ryoko's hands clenched tightly into fists, "What do you want with Tenchi?" she demanded harshly.

"Revenge..." she whispered proudly, "_On you_..."

In a heat rage, Ryoko jumped up from the floor without a second thought and charged at Eriko with her energy sword in her hands, "YOU BITCH! LEAVE TENCHI OUT OF THIS!!" The end of her energy sword was inching towards Eriko's forehead; Ryoko's enemy would never have enough time to move out of the way.

A second later, Ryoko surprisingly found herself pinned to one of the ship's walls by a powerful arm that was across her throat. Cold steel-colored eyes pierced hers, they belonged to Puck. As Ryoko struggled to be freed, Puck pressed harder down on her throat until she finally gave up on attacking his sister. _Bastard..._Ryoko thought sourly as Puck continued to hold her against the wall as his sister laughed smoothly.

Puck would never appear to be very strong; he appeared as frail and lean as Tenchi was. His eyes were emotionless; hardened by the cruel deeds he was made to do by his older sister. Silver hair hid the rest of his forehead, while the dark shadows hid the rest of his face. Eriko's brother was very young, even a few years younger than Ryoko.

"You know why I am doing this to you Ryoko?" Eriko cooed as she strolled over to her brother's side with a pleasant appearance.

Ryoko tried to move swiftly but Puck was prepared for it and held her back once again; frustrated with the fact of being at a disadvantage, Ryoko let a long sigh out. "Because I almost killed you...?" she wasn't very sure with what reason Eriko could possibly hate her for.

"No..." she snapped back sharply, "It's because you stole all of my treasure and destroyed half of my ship, leaving me right next to a fleet of Galaxy Police ships! THAT IS WHY RYOKO!!" Inching herself closer, Eriko got right up into Ryoko's personal space, "You spent all of my treasure on DRINKS!!"

_Spoken like a true space pirate_, Ryoko sighed mentally to herself. Ryoko had done all of those things to Eriko before she had been captured by Tenchi's grandfather, Yosho. "And you're taking Tenchi to get revenge on me for that?!" the ex-space pirate laughed loudly at Eriko.

Eriko smirked, "Well he is the only valuable thing to you, and I valued my old ship and treasure more than anything else. I think it's only fair...Plus if I have your Tenchi wrapped around my little finger-I can control you in any way I want."

"Like I'd work for you! I'd rather die than-" Ryoko started to yell out in anger.

Eriko's emerald eyes darkened, "If you don't do what I tell you...I'll _slice_ Tenchi's throat open in the middle of the night-he would never expect _Lily_ to do that to him."

The struggling stopped, "What do you want me to do?" Ryoko grumbled under her breath in a very pissed tone.

Snapping her fingers, Puck moved his arm away from Ryoko's throat and went back to his seat at the controls. "You're going to get my treasure back for me...every single last piece of it! If you can do that in a month, I'll give your Tenchi back and my brother and I will never return to Earth ever again."

Glaring, Ryoko replied in a low voice, "Why do I have the worst feeling that I'm the one who got the short stick out of the bargain?" _This is very bad..._she placed her hand around her neck and rubbed it tenderly as Eriko turned away from her gleefully. Ryoko leaned against the wall she had pinned against and was on the verge of tears. _Tenchi...Why couldn't you believe me?! I wouldn't be in this mess if you had..._Lowering her head; Ryoko closed her eyes to hold back the oncoming tears.

"Make sure our guest doesn't try anything funny, dear brother..." Eriko ordered roughly as she faded away from view, after changing into her "Lily" form first.

There was a cough coming from the front of the ship, Puck got up from the control area once his sister had been successfully transported to Earth. In his hand was a small mechanical device; Ryoko glanced up to see him pointing it at her. "Sorry about this..." Puck whispered as he pressed the green button on the machine.

Instantly, Ryoko fell to the floor of the ship paralyzed and nearly knocked out from a shock wave the mechanical device produce. Pocketing the device, Puck easily picked Ryoko up from the ground, carrying her to the ship's cell. Carefully, he laid her on the small bed and without looking at her twice; he left the cell and set the force shield up. All alone in the completely silent ship, Puck resumed controlling the ship as he waited for his sister's signal for him to leave the galaxy.

Lying on the uncomfortable bed, Ryoko swore mentally that she would kill the both of them once she was un-paralyzed and free from her cell. Ryoko felt even more light-headed as she laid there; she wanted Tenchi or at least someone to come and rescue her from this place. _I need you Tenchi..._The last thought that Ryoko could remember was Tenchi holding her hand that night in Tokyo just before she fell fully unconscious.

-------------------------------

"WASHU!!" Tenchi bellowed at the top of his lungs, the little black box she had given him had transported him to the top of a fifty-foot tall tree. "Just wait until I get my hands on her!! WASHU!!" he continued to scream for help as Ryo-oki tried to get away from Tenchi's tight gripping hands.

"MEOW!!" Ryo-oki hissed at Tenchi as she clawed at his face to get away.

Screaming in pain, Tenchi lost his balance at the top of the tree and fell down towards the ground. After hitting every possible tree branch with his face, Tenchi rubbed his butt and nose at the bottom of the tree. As he got up painfully, Washu's little black transporting box fell on top of Tenchi's head with Ryo-oki following it. In frustration, Tenchi bellowed out some swear words as he stomped all the way to the Masaki house with Ryo-oki and the black box in his bruised arms.

Ayeka was sweeping up Washu's broken coffee cup when Tenchi came bursting into the house covered with bruises, mud, sticks, and pine needles. "Where is Washu?!" Tenchi demanded from Ayeka with a dark look in his eyes.

"Lord Tenchi? Why are you back so soon? Why do you smell like bird sh-"  
Just then Washu walked into the kitchen with a semi-pleased look on her face, "I see that I still have a few glitches with my transporter box..." she gave Tenchi a cheesy grin as he glared at her darkly.

"A few? Washu, it transported me to the top of a hundred-foot tall pine tree! And I had to get down from there the hard way too!!" Tenchi yelled at the mad scientist.

Sasami came wandering into the kitchen when she heard all of the yelling, "Tenchi you're back!!" she ran over and gave him tight hug. "You decided to come back, Tenchi?" the Jurai Princess asked him with big green eyes.

Forgetting that he was angry at Washu, he shook his head sadly at Sasami, "I wanted to return Ryo-oki to you, Sasami."

Jumping from his arms, Ryo-oki landed in Sasami's arms with a gleeful expression, "Meow!" Ryo-oki purred at her second master and rubbed up against her affectionately.

"So you didn't miss us, Tenchi?" Sasami appeared to be hurt when she realized that Tenchi wasn't going to stay home after all.

"No-no!" Tenchi began to say in his defense, but then noticed the mess in the house. "What happened here?" his mouth hung open as he noticed dust everywhere in the house, pictures tipped on the wrong side, and broken dishes on the floor.

Ayeka placed the broom against the dinning table, "Washu's computer was being hacked this morning, right after you left, Lord Tenchi."

Nodding, Washu placed her arms behind her head, "But I showed those hackers! They didn't get one piece of information at all!" she winked to Tenchi.

He sighed with relief, "I was just hoping that it wasn't Ryoko who made this terrible mess..." Tenchi noticed the girls' expressions change into sullen glares.

"We haven't seen her since..." Sasami started with a sad sigh.

Tenchi nodded, "She'll come back...don't worry Sasami," he patted the princess on top of the head. Glancing over to Washu, he handed her the black transportation box, "Can you send me back to my car?"

"Of course! It's very simple, all you have to do is press this little 'back' button and-" as Washu flipped the black box over and over and over again, she coughed to hide her red cheeks. "Oops! I forgot to put that button on there, silly Washu!" Coughing again, she glided across the floor in her socks to her room to add the missing button.

"And sometimes I wonder how she remains all in one piece," Ayeka muttered under her breath as she picked her broom back up to finish sweeping up the broken glass.

Mihoshi came down the stairs, "Tenchi! You're back!!" she ran over and gave him a tight hug. "Has it been three weeks already?! It feels like I just saw you leave this morning!!" she smiled her ditzy blonde smile.

"It _was_ only just this morning Mihoshi," Ayeka hissed as she swept even harder across the wooden floor to contain her anger.

"Oh!" Mihoshi let go of Tenchi, "Then why are you back so early then, Tenchi?" just as he was about to answer her, Mihoshi found something shiny on the dinning table and turned her attention to it.

Rubbing the back of his neck, Tenchi grumbled "It's a long story" as Mihoshi played with the shiny object in her dark-colored hands.

After spending twenty minutes playing with the black teleportation box, Washu finally added the "return button" that she had forgotten to add. Just as she closed her room door behind her, her computer began beeping and flashing images of a space craft leaving Earth's orbit. Another imaged came onto the computer, showing that Ryoko could no longer be reached and that Washu's computer could not track her any more.

Pressing the blue back button, Tenchi was immediately teleported back to the inside of his blue car. Tenchi checked the back seat to make sure no more alien beings would try and surprise him, and then started the car and continued on his way to Tokyo; never knowing that Ryoko would be gone forever...


	6. Unusual Feelings

**Unusual Feelings**

"What's wrong Tenchi?" Eriko's lips were close to Tenchi's left ear; her dainty nose touched his cheek lightly. Her golden eyes glowed with warmth as she gazed deeply into his eyes but Tenchi's mind was on other things at the moment.

Shaking his head, he moved away from the overly friendly Eriko, "I'm just worried about Ryoko...She's been missing for over a week now..." His eyes lowered from Eriko's pearly smile to the sunset that was fading off in the distance. "I'm so worried about her...she always comes back after we fight...Washu can't even find her..." _I hope she's alright...I should have apologized to her before I left-she was so heartbroken..._

A determined expression appeared on Eriko's face as she tried to turn his attention back onto her, "Why are you so worried about her Tenchi-when you have me?" Slipping her delicate hand under his chin, she leaned forward and kissed him passionately.

Tenchi suddenly pulled away from Eriko with a disgusted look on his face, "How can you say that Lily?! I've known her for a very long time..." he shut his mouth when he was about to say more about the space pirate. He let a long sigh out, "I just hope she is okay..." Tenchi glanced back to the disappearing sunset, "I was too hard on her..."

Growing red in the face, Eriko pouted next to Tenchi on the back porch, "You like her more than me, don't you Tenchi?" She grew even redder in the face when Tenchi totally ignored her comment and just watched the sunset. "Whatever," Eriko got up and went back inside the small apartment that they had rented together, until Tenchi and she could afford a house closer to the city.

There was just a red glowing sky now, mixing and fading into a dark purple with a cloud of stars covering the top of the sky. "Please come back Ryoko..." Tenchi whispered, "I'm sorry..." He felt a cold breeze in the air, _I hate to say this but...I miss you Ryoko..._ Shivering from the blowing wind, he got up and left the back porch to go inside to stay warm.

--------------------------------------

"OPEN-YOU DAMN DOOR!!" Ryoko screamed at the top of her lungs as she rammed the door to her cell as hard as she could. Instantly, her energy sword appeared in her hands and she slashed it furiously at the solid door. Panting in frustration, she rammed the door again, _Come on Puck-open the door so I can kill you! _

Puck awoke with one eye open, "What in the world is she doing now?!" he grumbled unhappily as he left his seat at the control area. He heard loud bangs coming from the cell where Ryoko was being kept, he stopped at the front of the door and waited patiently for Ryoko to stop ramming the door down.

_One more ram should do it...then you're mine..._ Ryoko thought threateningly to herself as she kicked the door and finally backed away from it with a dark look.

The door opened after Puck entered the codes, he peered inside the cell to see nothing but darkness. Without any warning, Ryoko attacked him with her energy sword in her hands, "You're mine!!" she hissed as she charged at him with all her force.

Ducking quickly, Puck barely missed the edge of Ryoko's sword, "Hey-no need to get all hostile here!" He jumped back a few feet when Ryoko took a swipe at him furiously, "Can't we talk about this?" he asked weakly as she went after him with the sword again.

"Take me back to EARTH!!" Ryoko cried as she made a ball of energy appear in her free hand, "Or I'll kill you!" Her eyes glowed a deep red at Eriko's brother, _I'm not joking this time Puck...I'll kill you..._

In a split second, Ryoko lunged at Puck with her orange energy sword edging closer to his throat. Puck stood there with an eager expression; at the very last moment, Ryoko's energy sword was stopped by Puck's green one. This caught Ryoko totally off guard; using this advantage, Puck grabbed the edge of her collar and flipped her onto the floor of the ship effortlessly. Placing his foot on her throat lightly, he pointed the end of his energy sword at Ryoko's pale throat.

"You know how long it took me to paint that door?" Puck laughed as he moved his foot away and made his energy sword disappear. "We're close to the system of Juria," he walked away from her like they had just been only sparring and not fighting to the death.

Ryoko leaped up with her jaw down, "Where did you learn that move?" she gasped as she rubbed her neck where Puck had placed his foot.

"From you actually...You taught it to me three hundred years ago-I think," he stretched his arms as he took a seat at the control area of the ship. "Have a nice nap?" Puck seemed to be in a different mood than he was yesterday.

Scratching her head, Ryoko tried to remember when she had shown him that move...it must have been part of the memories she had shut down such a long time ago. Ryoko went over to the front of the ship to see the system Juria on the main screen that Puck had pulled up for her to see, "What am I stealing?" she asked in a small whisper.

"Plenty of things...I'll show you when we get down there..." Puck pressed thousands of buttons to pull up images of some of the items his sister would be wanting back. "So...I guess you really like this Tenchi fellow, huh?" he asked as he glanced up from the computer keys.

Narrowing her eyes, Ryoko glared at Puck's personal question, "Why do you ask...?"

He shrugged uneasily, "You called out his name while you were sleeping," Puck turned away from his computer screen and keys. "You can always tell how much a person likes someone when they say their name whilst sleeping," the pirate winked to Ryoko.

Ryoko's glowed red, "You heard me say his name while I was sleeping?!" she hissed in a dangerous voice at him.

"I was just checking up on you-that's all, I swear-" Puck started to say when an alarm went off in the ship. "Shit..." he turned back to the controls, "The Galaxy Police have found the ship..." Placing his hands over the controls, he forced the ship to swerve right, barely missing an incoming energy beam that one of the Galaxy Police's ships fired at the pirates. "Brace yourself!" Puck warned as a Galaxy Police ship rammed into the right side of the ship.

Ryoko was ready for the collision; keeping her eyes on the main screen, she counted a total of seven Galaxy Police ships in hot pursuit of them. "I thought you had a cloaking system on this ship?!" she grumbled at Puck as he laid on the floor from the force of the ships hitting one another at a fast speed.

"It must be broken-I thought it was still on..." rubbing his shoulder, Puck jumped off of the floor and scrambled back to the controls.

A Lieutenant suddenly appeared on the main screen of the computer, "You are trespassing on royal grounds...You are under arrest-if you resist we _will_ fire on you at will." Surprisingly enough, Ryoko knew the Galaxy Police Lieutenant; it was Mihoshi's alien father. The Lieutenant immediately recognized Ryoko also, "Ryoko?!" he yelled out loudly making the officers behind him turn to see the pirates on the main screen of their ship. Turning to them, Mihoshi's father ordered his officers to fire on Ryoko's ship without any hesitation.

"I hope you have a plan..." Puck mouthed to Ryoko as he kept the ship perfectly still; the pirate ship was now surrounded on all sides by Galaxy Police ships.

She nodded silently, "Let me have the controls..." Ryoko hissed with an excited look in her yellow eyes. Nearly pushing Puck out of his seat, Ryoko took control over the ship with a bright smile. "This is the last time you'll see the famous space pirate Ryoko, Lieutenant..._enjoy it_," she winked to Puck.

In a mad frenzy to try and shoot down the pirate ship, energy beams were sent in every direction; some even hit their own ships. Mastering the controls of the pirate ship in only seconds, Ryoko dodged all of the energy beams and managed to find an escape route down to the main Jurai planet.

Chasing after the pirate ship, the Galaxy Police formed into a tight niche firing as many shots as they could at the ship. Ryoko was laughing all the way, with Puck giving her weird looks in the pirate ship. Making a quick decision, Ryoko made the ship break right in front of the Galaxy Police; who were traveling as fast as they could to catch her. The Galaxy Police's ships served to miss ramming into the pirate ship, mistakenly ramming into one another and crippling the remaining ships out of the fleet.

Ryoko beamed pleasingly to Puck; who was green in the face from all the zigzagging and sudden stops; "That was fun," she said in a cheerful voice as she left the controls, "I'm done playing with the ship now..."

"Good..." Puck climbed off of the floor into his chair with a sick expression still lingering on his face. "You don't stay solemn for very long, do you?" he commented as he regained control over his sister's ship.

"What do you mean?" as Ryoko asked him this, it dawned on her what he was talking about-missing her beloved Tenchi. Glaring at Puck sourly, Ryoko turned her back on him and folded her arms across her chest smugly, "I'm still going to kill you..." she swore under her breath.

Puck of course, had heard her say this and just smirked secretly to himself about her surly comment; knowing that she would not try to kill him again-for he wasn't her enemy. "I guess you're ready to plunder and steal all the gold from Juria-right?"

The ex-space pirate just flipped Puck off in response, so he zipped his mouth shut until they got off the ship almost right in front of the place where Juria keeps all of its gold and the rest of their treasures. "So...who wants to go inside first?" he asked meekly as Ryoko snorted and brushed past him at a fast paced walk.

Stopping at the entrance to the Royal Palace, Ryoko noticed that there were no guards around what so ever. "Is it just me-or are we suddenly missing some guards and civilians around here?" Ryoko glanced around, but could not find anyone in sight except for Puck standing right behind her. "You know what, _you_ can go inside first..." she snarled as she grabbed his collar and shoved him inside the palace ahead of her.


	7. Wishing To Be More Than Just A Friend

Love is the only thing that will make my heart stop,

It will be the only thing that will break us apart.

This feeling knows no bounds, no limits,

And all my love is focused on you.

Even if my feelings are kept hidden from you,

Just look through my eyes and you'll see the truth.

Everyday passes by and not a moment do I forget,

Your lovely smile, the bright tone of your eyes,

And the warmth from your kindness and embrace.

Even though you'll never know my little secret,

I'll just smile my broken smile and pretend,

And hope that I see you again...

_By Hunter0309

* * *

_

**Wishing To Be More than Just a Friend**

Ryoko's bright yellow eyes filled with tears of joy as she hugged three bars made out of solid gold. "Gold-gold-gold-goolllddd...." She hummed happily as she examined more of the golden bars that lay out in front of her, "I love gold..."

"Do you know how lucky we were that the entire system of Jurai was on the _other_ side of the palace listening to Misaki and Funaho giving speeches to the public?!" Puck swung his chair around to glare at Ryoko sternly. "And how we were lucky enough that the Galaxy Police _thought_ we were going to capture _them_ and hold them for hostage instead of taking the _treasure_?!"

Glancing up from the gold, Ryoko's yellow eyes had changed to a golden hue, "No..." she beamed even more at him. Ryoko ignored Puck's overly loud sigh and continued to clean and examine each gold bar with exact precision. "I wonder if Eriko will miss two or five of these..." the ex-pirate added as she started to pocket one of the bars.

"You try that and Eriko will cut off Tenchi's left hand to call it even," the silver-haired pirate warned as he turned back to the main screen. "You better not destroy another ship while you're here..." Puck grumbled unhappily when he started to check the ship's overall damage.

Tossing the solid gold bar behind her head, it slammed right into Puck's bruised shoulder, "_HEY_!" Puck swerved his chair around with a death look in his eyes, "Watch it where you toss those things!"

Ryoko smirked, "You won't live long enough to find out if I destroy your ship or not for the second time..." With great ease, she jumped up off of the floor and walked away to the opposite end of the ship; kicking some of the gold bars out of her way. _I'll just play it cool for two more raids...then I'll take this ship over and fly back to Earth to save Tenchi..._ "Good plan, Ryoko-good plan," she whispered to herself as she went over to her cell to take a small nap.

Puck mocked Ryoko's last words when she was out of sight, "Ruins my newly painted cell door, damages the left side of my ship, _and_ she manages to bruise my shoulder-all in one _bloody day_!!" Placing his hands over his face, he let out another frustrated sigh. "If she doesn't kill Eriko first, I'll do it for having to put up with a demon who likes to watch things burn."

The lights above Ryoko's head suddenly flickered off, "Now what...?" she muttered when she opened one eye to notice her cell's light was now off.

"GOD DAMN SHIP!" Puck bellowed at the top of his lungs; not caring who would hear him. "It just _has_ to have an electrical problem today..." Kicking the ship's wall as hard as he could, Puck limped over to his side of the ship to find the tools needed to fix the ship.

Poking her head out of her cell doorway, Ryoko felt a rush of wind and heard some muttered swear words that flew by her in the darkness. "What happened?" she called out; knowing that it had been Puck who had just brushed by her cell's door.

Without Ryoko seeing, Puck rolled his eyes at her, "What does it look like?! The left side of my ship's electrical is down, so is the rest of the ship's. Now, _I_ have to go fix the damage _you_ made today on it...before something else shuts down.

"It is not my fault!!" Ryoko hissed as she stepped out of her cell's doorway to fumble around in the dark to try and find him, so she could argue about it even more. "If your ship wasn't so bulky and slow..."

A small beam of light appeared before Ryoko, "Whoa, whoa...Don't be calling my pride and joy slow and bulky...I made this ship all by _hand_ thank you very much!!" Puck held the flashlight in his hand tightly as he pointed at Ryoko's face, "Never insult my ship..." he growled.

Ryoko snorted, "What are you going to do to me if I don't stop? Blind me to death by flickering that flashlight at me?"

Throwing his hands into the air, Puck muttered, "Why do I put up with your shit?!" and then turned away from her to disappear from her sight.

"Hello?" Ryoko squeaked in fear when she realized that he had left her all alone in the dark.

----------------------

"MIHOSHI!!" screamed a voice on Washu's computer, making the poor blonde take cover behind Ayeka. "Why didn't you tell me that Ryoko was hiding here on Earth this ENTIRE TIME?!" Mihoshi's stern father bellowed on the main screen of Washu's computer.

Peeking her nose over Ayeka's right shoulder, Mihoshi managed to tell her father how Ryoko had changed her ways and was no longer a space pirate. "If Ryoko is no longer a space pirate...then why did she just steal all of Jurai's treasure in only thirty minutes?!"

Ayeka went pale, "_SHE DID WHAT?!_"

With a very befuddled look, Sasami tugged on Washu's sleeve, "Is that where Ryoko has been gone for the past two weeks?" she asked in a small voice. "I thought Ryoko promised Tenchi that she would never be a space pirate again..."

Washu had the same expression on her face, "This doesn't seem like Ryoko...Why would she want all of that gold for when she could have easily gotten it in a different system of planets?" Scratching her chin in a puzzled manner, Washu turned to the screen to speak with Mihoshi's father. "What sort of ship was she traveling in?"

Sasami bent down and picked Ryo-oki up off of the ground; she was whimpering in worry for her master. "Don't worry Ryo-oki...Ryoko will be alright..." the Jurai Princess whispered to the space pet.

"One that can not be identified...either the records have been wiped clean or the ship has just been built...Ryoko wasn't alone though." Mihoshi's father showed a cropped image of Puck in the background holding onto the edge of his seat with Ryoko at the controls. "I'm sending Kiyonne to come pick you up, Mihoshi. Since you know Ryoko so well, you can help us track her down."

Washu was deep in thought now, _Ryoko hates having partners...This doesn't seem right..._ "I might be able to help you," the mad scientist coughed loudly to grab the Galaxy Police's Lieutenant's attention. "If you send me the list of things that were stolen, the blueprints of that ship, and the area she was in...I might be able to calculate which planet she is heading to next, Lieutenant."

"Anything you can do will be greatly appreciated," Mihoshi's father bowed his head in respect and the main computer screen flickered off.

Staying quiet for most of the conversation, Ayeka finally let out a high-pitched scream in anger. "_SHE STOLE ALL OF MY FATHER'S TREASURE! THAT BIG-NOSED HEATHEN!!_" Stomping her foot on the floor, the princess stormed out of Washu's room to scream some more.

"Are you going to tell Tenchi about this Washu?" Sasami asked in a small voice as Ryo-oki meowed in reply.

Sighing, Washu nodded, "Tenchi wanted me to keep him posted on Ryoko's return...we'll have to tell him..."

-----------------------------

_Great...I can't see and I'm stuck in this position until I can figure out where I am in this stupid ship. I don't know why he's so angry at me...it's not my fault his ship is such a piece of shit. _Ryoko mistakenly took one small step forward which sent her down to the floor; due to the fact that she had tripped on one of the solid gold bars. _My day can't get any worse..._she whined to herself as she lay there on the floor helplessly; afraid to move to just fall over again.

"Have a nice fall?" chimed a voice above her head. Puck was smirking as he held the flashlight over her, "Need a hand?"

Without thinking twice, Ryoko grabbed onto Puck's hand and he pulled her up to her feet with great ease. A second later, the lights to the ship flickered on to reveal Puck with a small cut across his forehead and on his left shoulder. Puck noticed Ryoko staring at his cut on his shoulder, "Helps take my mind off of the bruise that you gave me there," he winked.

"What did you do?" she couldn't help but smile weakly at his side comment.

"Well..." Puck rubbed the back of his head, "I dropped my tool on my shoulder while I was working on the electrical, and then I banged my head trying to get up once I had fixed it."

Ryoko's smile widened, "You must enjoy your bad luck..."

"More than you will ever know..." Puck rolled his eyes cynically at her statement as he strolled back over to the control area. "At least I didn't trip on the gold bar that I spent two hours shinning with my sleeve," he jeered as he took a seat with a grin.

"Har-har..." Ryoko rolled her eyes at him this time, "You should change your shirt...it's nearly red now instead of blue."

It was true; Puck's left shoulder was a dark red now with his silver hair turning a darker color from the gash on his forehead. "I guess so..." Sticking his hands underneath the collar of his shirt, he unlatched a silver chain from his neck and delicately placed it on the edge of his keyboard. Puck got up as he slowly pulled his blue shirt that was now clinging to his wet left shoulder. "Don't mess with the controls..." he growled at Ryoko as she smiled innocently at him.

The silver chain had suddenly caught Ryoko's eye, checking twice to make sure Puck was in his room, she casually walked over to the keyboard at the controls area. Swiping her hand across the keyboard, she snatched the silver chain necklace to realize that it was in fact a silver locket. Ryoko glanced over her shoulder to see if Puck was coming back, when she saw nothing she went back to examining the silver locket. Without thinking twice, she hastily opened the locket to find a small image in the right side. The girl in the locket was a drop-dead gorgeous...long, dark brown locks, golden eyes, and a charming smile.

"Give it back," Puck snapped hotly behind Ryoko's back when he knew that she had opened his locket.

Turning around slowly like she already knew that she was in deep trouble, Puck quickly snatched the locket from her hands and pocketed in his pants. "Who's the pretty lady?" Ryoko smirked slightly at the pirate.

"None of your damn business..." he spat as he took a seat at the control area and never spoke to Ryoko for the rest of the night.


	8. A New Capture

**A New Capture**

"Um...Puck?" Ryoko asked in a small whisper when he had not moved from his seat for the entire night. She poked his shoulder lightly when she realized that he had fallen asleep, "Puck?"

"Can't you see that I'm trying to sleep, Ryoko?" Puck grumbled without opening his eyes. Without any warning, his eyes suddenly opened; frightening Ryoko when she saw his cold expression in the dark; "What do you want?"

Ryoko took a step away from him, handing him a small photo from her pocket, "I always carry a picture of Tenchi with me..." The ex space pirate was very pleased to see his icy expression soften when he examined the picture of her love, "I didn't mean to pry into your private life..." For some strange reason, Ryoko was acting civil towards this man who had captured her from Earth and is the brother of one of her greatest enemies.

"So this is your beloved Tenchi?" Puck chuckled lightly, "Not very impressive looking-is he?" he handed the photo back to her with a bright grin.

With a cold glare, Ryoko snatched the picture of Tenchi back from his hands, placing it carefully back into her pocket. "He's stronger than he looks," she snarled in reply, realizing that having him give her the silent treatment was a blessing.

Puck let out an uneasy sigh, "At least the person you love is still alive..."

The scowl on Ryoko's face faded away, "She is dead?" Ryoko was now leaning against the control keys with a concerned expression; her plan to catch Puck off guard and gain control of his ship disappeared from her mind.

------------------------------

"When did you find this out Washu?" Tenchi was not the only one with a concerned look that day. He was watching Washu's main computer screen as the crazy scientist replayed Mishoshi father's message that the girls had received the day before.

"Just yesterday..." Pressing a single button, the ship designs appeared next to the main screen, "This is the ship that they claimed she was in...Ryoko was heading towards the system of Nester before the cloaking device on the ship went functional again." Washu folded her arms across her chest in a peeved expression when Tenchi's girlfriend entered the scientist's room glancing around for Tenchi.

"I made you some dinner eat it before it gets cold," Lily smiled to Washu as she placed her arm around Tenchi's neck sweetly. When Tenchi did not reply, Lily kissed him on the cheek to grab his attention from the ship's design, "Aren't you hungry Tenchi?" her expression puzzled Washu.

Brushing her off his shoulder, Tenchi barely glanced up to her to tell her that he wasn't really that hungry. "I have to help Washu with this, Lily...alright?" he was trying to be polite as possible to her.

Lily's odd expression turned icy, as if he had given her the cold shoulder completely, "But Tenchi-!" Her hands swept down furiously to her delicate hips, "I spent some time on your dinner!!"

The anger in the back of Tenchi's mind had finally reached its boiling point, "I'm sorry Lily, but I care more about finding Ryoko than a STUPID DINNER!!" He turned his attention back to Washu's computer, "Whose ship is this?"

Turning bright red, Lily's stomped her foot loudly on the floor, "Who cares about a stupid home-made pirate ship?!" Tenchi and Washu ignored her rude comment, forcing her to leave the scientist's in a heated rage.

"And why did you bring her here?" Washu asked, with the same peeved expression on her face.

Tenchi shook his head, "She said that she wanted to help find Ryoko..."

"That doesn't make any sense, she hates Ryoko..." Washu scratched her pink hair in confusion, "Doesn't she?"

Meanwhile, Lily was fuming up and down the Masaki's house stairs with her fists clenched, "I can't believe that stupid earthling..." she grumbled under her breath. Suddenly Lily heard someone behind her on the top of the stairs, flipping around she found Ayeka standing on the top step with a smug look. "What are you so pleased about?" Lily snarled at the Jurai Princess.

"You won't last long here," Ayeka stated simply, "Washu or I will found out the truth about you and we'll alert Lord Tenchi...Only in a matter of hours, Lily...if that _is_ your name..." _Just think like Ryoko, what would she do in this situation? Well...besides kicking Lily through the front door..._"I'm on to your _little secret_..."

Lily's laughter filled the air, "Which secret would you be talking about, Princess Ayeka? The one where I am the one who has captured Ryoko, or the one about me forcing her to steal so Tenchi will stay alive? Take your pick princess, I have more..." Her golden eyes were turning into a darker shade of green, "How does it feel to be poor Princess Ayeka?" she smirked confidentially.

Ayeka now knew more than she wanted to, "You are the cause of all of this?!" her voice was climbing higher in pitch with every passing second. "What have you done with Ryoko? Where is she?! I command you to tell me where she is!"

"Why don't I just take you there Princess Ayeka?" Lily's form disappeared, being replaced by a totally different figure. "Ryoko could recognize me, but she likes to rat out her former partners...Too bad you picked the wrong time to get into my way." Eriko flicked her black hair behind her ears, "Say goodnight Princess Ayeka!"

"You won't get away with this-_LORD TENCHI_!!" Ayeka called out for help but her cries were cut off short. Tumbling to the floor, Ayeka was unconscious thanks to a machine which matched the one that Puck had used on Ryoko earlier.

Eriko carefully glanced around to see if anyone had heard Ayeka at all; Sasami and Mihoshi were waiting by the lake for the arrival of Mihoshi's police partner, Tenchi's father and grandfather were out of town for the week, and Tenchi and Washu were too absorbed in the mysterious ship's blue prints; no one was around. With great prowess, Eriko carried Ayeka outside without any trouble.

It was pitch black outside, the cold air was unbearable to stand in, but Eriko stood there playing with something on her wrist. "One more thing Princess, I think I'm going to use you as a hostage..." the female space pirate snapped at the unconscious Ayeka; who was leaning against a tree on the grimy dirt.

-----------------------------------

"There still might be hope for you and Tenchi..." Puck was no longer annoyed by Ryoko's personal questions or by her side comments; he was actually getting along with her. His opinion of her had suddenly changed, Ryoko wasn't as cruel as his sister had described her...but she might have changed her ways when she had met Tenchi. "If the only competition is a snotty princess, I'm sure you will win his heart in the end."

Ryoko was impressed by Puck's openness; it was almost like they were friends now. There was only one problem with Ryoko being friends with him-he was her enemy's brother. _He does what she tells him, she controls him...Puck can't be trusted..._Those thoughts kept running through her mind as she stared into his steel-colored eyes, _I can't trust you..._

Silence filled the room, making it very awkward for the two to start a new conversation; Puck stretched in his chair and yawned loudly. "Well...we might as well get some rest, only two more hours and we'll be at our next looting site..." Scratching the back of his head, he lazily dragged his feet across the floor towards his room, "Night Ryoko..." he yawned again before he disappeared into his room.

_Why doesn't he worry about me taking control of the ship? _Ryoko plopped herself into Puck's comfy chair, _No wonder he likes to sit here...Focus Ryoko-focus! If I just play it cool for at least one more day...maybe I can finally catch Puck fully off guard and get back home to Tenchi..._Her mind was beginning to wander again, she thought about how much she had missed her dear Tenchi . _I wish you were here..._Lowering her head, Ryoko sullenly left the comfy chair and crawled into her cell with a depressed sigh, _Please find me Tenchi..._

A few hours later, Ryoko heard some yelling coming from the back of Puck's ship, "Will you stop struggling and screeching?! Someone is trying to sleep over there..." Puck growled at who ever was screaming at him.

"Unhand me right now! Lord Tenchi will come to my rescue!!"

Banging her head on the edge of the doorway, Ryoko slowly opened her eyes to find Ayeka staring right into her face. "Can you keep it down Ayeka?" she stretched her arms high into the air above Ayeka's head, "I'm trying to sleep..."

"SLEEP?! HOW CAN YOU SLEEP AT A TIME LIKE THIS?! WHEN STUCK ON THIS JUNKY SHIP-" Ayeka's eyes rolled to the back of her head; soon she tumbled into Puck's arms unconscious.

"She is like a damn screech owl..." he grumbled as he pocketed his special machine. A bright grin slowly appeared on his lips, "We'll let her sleep in the cell instead...eh?" Sweeping Ayeka off of her feet, Ryoko stepped out of Puck's way as he carried the princess over to the cell's cramped bed.

Puck clapped his hands together once he locked the door behind him, "That should contain her for a while...right?"

_Why is Ayeka here? How much did I miss when I fell asleep-hasn't it only been a few hours? _Ryoko felt Puck's hand on her left shoulder, "Didn't you hear me Ryoko? You can stay in my sister's room...Its better than that crappy cell bed anyways if you ask me." _Why are you being so nice to me? I thought we were enemies..._ "Are you alright?" Puck gave her an uneasy look.

"Why is she here Puck?" Ryoko turned cold towards him, realizing again that he was her enemy-not her ally.

"The exact reason-I don't really know about-"

Grabbing Puck's collar, Ryoko made her energy sword appear as she directed it at his exposed throat. "_Tell me_..." she snarled with her eyes glowing a deep red towards him.

The pirate never moved his lips, he just gave Ryoko a challenging stare; as if he wanted her to try and kill him. _Kill him now Ryoko, while you have the advantage over him still. _Ryoko's grip on Puck's collar tightened as she prepared herself to strike a devastating blow at him, _Now Ryoko-NOW!_ The energy sword disappeared from her hands, while her other hand released Puck's blue collar. _I can't..._

"You should have killed me," Puck whispered as he brushed by Ryoko without saying another word. There was a loud slam; most likely he had slammed the door to his room shut; leaving Ryoko alone in the dark ship again.

_I won't stop myself next time..._Ryoko caught sight of the planet Earth slowly fading away into the darkness of stars and galaxies at the front of the ship; she was home...she could have made it back to Earth to rescue Tenchi after all. Something deep in Ryoko was telling her not to go back to Tenchi, telling her that what she needed was out in space-not back on Earth. A headache was beginning in the back of her mind, forcing her to sit in Puck's chair until it had finally cleared up; she ended up drifting asleep in his chair dreaming of someone holding her hand.


	9. The Mistake

This is probably my 2nd favorite chapter out of this story, of course my 1st one I haven't published yet on here...I'm so evil sometimes. But no worries, my favorite chapter is the next one-it is good...promise. So that will be 10 chapters made so far, most likely I will only write two or three more chapters to end this story. No I'm not going to tell you how it ends!  
I wanted to thank all off the reviewers who have continued to send me reviews on this story, I really appreciate it and I am trying to do the same  
for all of your stories...but there are so many of you! But I just wanted to let you all know that I enjoy reading your reviews about this story. Thanks so much!  
Hunter0309

* * *

**The Mistake**

Puck came out of the cell with a bloody nose and a bruised cheek; Ryoko desperately tried not to laugh out loud at him as he passed by her with a grouchy attitude. The silence lasted only for a few seconds, Ryoko was howling with laughter pissing Puck off even more. "Get beaten up by a princess lately?" she smirked at him; she had forgotten about trying to kill him the night before.

It was obvious that Puck had not forgotten about the fight, he narrowed his steel hued eyes at the ex pirate and snorted at her. After a moment of staring her down, he gave her a weak smile, "Does she always slap that hard?" He couldn't blame Ryoko for what she had done yesterday; his sister was not sticking to the plan anymore, he wondered if she had other intentions of getting revenge that she never mentioned to him.

Walking over to the locked cell door, Ryoko leaned closer to hear Ayeka screaming her lungs out to try and get help from someone. "Believe it or not, I've actually seen her when she is _really_ pissed."

"You mean it gets worse?" Puck nearly coked when Ryoko had told him the truth about Ayeka's terrible temper tantrums.

"LET ME OUT!!" Ayeka's voice was muffled, but Ryoko and Puck could still hear it without any trouble.

Ryoko smirked to Puck, "Well you heard her...you better let her out before she gets really into her tantrum." Pulling away from the cell door, Ryoko gave Puck enough room for him to open the cell door-if he dared to open it that is.

Glaring at her, Puck dragged his feet over to the cell door, slowly unlocking it with great care, "Does she bite?" he asked Ryoko just before he pulled the door open.

_Goodbye silence..._Ryoko could already tell that Ayeka was planning to scream at her...only after she was done with screaming at Puck.

A red-faced Juria Princess came storming out of the cell, "When Lord Tenchi comes to rescue me-I'll make sure that you get locked away in the darkest cell in the galaxy..._That's a promise_..."

Puck couldn't help but laugh at Ayeka's peeved expression, "A pleasure to meet you too..." As Ayeka threatened him more, Puck secretly rolled his eyes at her and nodded every time the princess paused to take another breath.

When Ayeka was through with threatening him, she turned her bloodshot eyes on Ryoko. "You stole _all of my FATHER'S TREASURE_!!" she screeched, nearly trying to strangle the blue-haired alien with her bare hands.

This ranting and screaming at Ryoko went on for hours on that small ship; driving Puck mad enough to hide in his room for the rest of the afternoon. Once Puck had locked himself inside his room, Ayeka's angry eyes softened into a look of determination. "We have to get back to Earth, Ryoko..." she whispered to her as if they were suddenly friends.

"Next time you plan on screaming at me to drive someone _else_ away, do it one pitch lower please..." Ryoko's ears were still pounding and ringing. "So what did you want to talk about?...before I go deaf that is..."

Ayeka shifted her eyes around to make sure that no one was listening in, "You were right about that Lily girl..." she whispered in a low voice.

Ryoko snorted, "No..._really_? I was?"

"I think she's planning to kill Lord Tenchi..." Ayeka ignored Ryoko's cynical remark.

A confused look fell on Ryoko's brow, "No...I just have to steal from one more planet and then she'll leave Tenchi alone-that was the deal..."

"Not anymore it sounds like..." the Juria Princess whispered still. "We have to get back to Earth, Ryoko...and save Lord Tenchi," she lifted her head up and glanced around the ship again to make sure that Puck was not listening in on their conversation. "You have to kill him Ryoko..." she hissed, "Gain control of the ship so we can get back before that _Lily_ can kill him..."

If Ayeka had come only a few weeks earlier and described this plan to Ryoko, the ex space pirate would have most likely gone through with it without any second thoughts. Now though, Ryoko was beginning to wonder if she really did despise Puck or not...she had grown so close to him. Something else in Ryoko felt different, her love for Tenchi was rapidly disappearing. It wasn't because she was back in space, but she was slowly realizing the truth about her relationship with Tenchi. But there was still a small flame in her heart for him, "I'll do it..." Ryoko hissed to Ayeka.

The door to Puck's room opened without any warning, frightening Ayeka somewhat, "We're here Ryoko," he grumbled as he rubbed his ears tenderly. Walking over to the control area, Puck plugged in some numbers and directions for the ship to understand. After the computer had recognized and understood the directions, Puck left the control area and held out his hand to Ryoko, "Coming?"

Ayeka was already planning to take over the ship once the two were gone; but she didn't know that Puck had locked down the ship so only he could operate it now. Remaining silent to stay unnoticed, Ayeka played with her thumbs as the two began preparing to transport down to the planet.

"By the way Princess Ayeka," Puck smirked over to the corner where she was standing, "The controls are locked, so the only way you can get out of here is by my doing...so don't mess up my ship while I'm gone." He beamed at Ayeka's darkened expression; she would never get to back to Tenchi in time now.

-----------------------------

While Ayeka pouted and threw another tantrum on the space ship, Puck and Ryoko were already trying to steal the strange planet's over abundance of silver and gold. So far the two had gone undetected by the inhabitants of the planet; they resembled dog-like creatures that could walk on their hind legs. The planet was dry; Ryoko kept spitting sand out of her mouth as she tried to help locate the planet's main treasure vault. Everything was going according to plan, which relieved Ryoko as she helped Puck blast through a titanium door that would lead them to the treasure.

"Just three more doors, then we'll be out of here..." Puck coughed up some sand as he examined the map in his hands once again. "Then you can get your beloved Tenchi back..." his voice did not sound as cheerful as it had been earlier, but Ryoko did not really notice.

Ryoko glanced behind her shoulder, "It's been really easy for us to get all of this treasure..." she did not like that fact. "I have a feeling this one is not going to be as easy..." she whispered to Puck in a worried tone.

Pocketing the map, Puck gave Ryoko a playful wink, "I have you to protect me," he joked. _I hope_...

As Ryoko followed Puck down a long hallway with no inhabitants in site, she became very worried. "Puck...I don't have a very good feeling about this-" she made her energy sword appear in her hands. "This isn't right..." she hissed to him.

Suddenly Puck stopped in his tracks, "Did you hear that?" he whispered as his energy sword appeared in his hands also. He turned his head in the direction where he had heard the sound, "Take the first door on your left behind you-then blast through the wall and go down the second hallway until you reach a circular door...use the explosives on that door-take as much as you can and get out...understand?"

Ryoko quickly glanced behind her to see the door he was talking about, "Aren't you coming with me?" she could sense that he was nervous about something. When he did not answer, she went up to touch his shoulder, "Puck-aren't you-"

Something appeared at the end of the hallway just before them, something with sharp claws and blood red eyes. "Run..." Puck hissed to Ryoko as the creature let out a bloodcurdling cry to alert others of its kind.

Ryoko took a few steps back but could not bring herself to leave her enemy all alone to deal with the creatures. "_RUN RYOKO_!" Puck turned his head back just enough to see her still standing behind him.

Another hair-raising cry came from behind Ryoko; they were surrounded now; she turned back to see two more dog-like creatures snarling a few feet away. These creatures were frightening in the light, they had long, sharp, hallow spikes protruding from their backs and razor-sharp teeth and claws. Their eyes were just narrow slits in their skulls, glowing the color of blood.

Ryoko felt a surge of energy rise in her; she would not leave Puck there to fight these wretched creatures. In a flash, Ryoko was charging at the two creatures with her energy sword raised high. Slipping between the two creatures, Ryoko quickly sliced at their throats with her sword...both fell to the ground dead.

The creature that had alerted its companions was now lying on the floor dead by Puck's feet, Puck was panting heavily from his fear of these creatures. "I told you to go!" Puck snarled at Ryoko as he turned back to see if she was not hurt.

"Excuse me for trying to help you! You would have been killed!" Ryoko growled back in a nasty voice.

Puck let out a long sigh, "Now they'll know that we are coming for the treasure... It will be harder to acquire that treasure," he almost sounded disappointed in Ryoko.

"Makes it more challenging," Ryoko had a determined look in her eyes; she desperately needed a challenge. "I'm sorta rusty on these kinds of things..." she added as she opened the door to the left of her. "After you..."

He smiled, "I hope you know the one in the back is always killed first," Puck walked into the empty room first-or so he thought.

The two pirates were greeted by four pairs of glowing red eyes in the dark room, "Oh-shit..." Puck whispered as Ryoko followed him inside the room.

Within a matter of minutes, the four dog-like creatures were lying on the floor deader that a door-mat. Even though Puck was only able to kill one of them, he was pretty pleased with his work. Ryoko just rubbed it in that she had killed a total of five while he only had beheaded two.

"Numbers do not count! Only style does!" Puck grumbled as turned his head away when Ryoko was blasting the wall down.

Thankfully Puck was right with his directions; they had found the second hallway behind the wall Ryoko had destroyed. "How far is it down this hallway?" she asked her enemy as he quickly examined the empty hallway.

Puck grabbed Ryoko's arm as he led her down the hallway; he kept one eye in front of him and the other to his right side; "It should be the twelfth door down this hallway...I think..."

"I just hope we don't run into anymore of those things..." Ryoko shuddered when she remembered how horrifying they were close-up.

Like a stroke of bad luck, the two heard more cries of the dog-like creatures from all around them. "You had to open your mouth, didn't you?" Puck grumbled as he released her arm and turned his back on her to face the creatures.

There was nothing behind him, nor was there anything in front of them in the long hallway. "I swore it sounded like they were right on top of us..." Puck whispered to Ryoko as their backs touched.

"Because they are..." Ryoko said it in such a small voice that Puck did not hear her. Lifting her head up to stare at the ceiling, the creature let out a glass-shattering cry as it landed on the floor two inches away from Ryoko.

Puck glanced up to see two more dog-like creatures above him, "We're dead..." he whispered.

The creature snarled at Ryoko as it tried to take a swipe at her head; luckily she jumped to the side to only have her shoulder slashed open instead of her skull. Quickly, Ryoko created a ball of energy, throwing it at the creature and sending him sliding back down the hallway wailing.

"Go and get the treasure Ryoko! I can only hold them back for a little while..." Mimicking Ryoko's attack pattern, he charged at the two dog-like creatures and sent them both to the floor dead.

More cries came from down the hallway; all Puck could see was a sea of those creatures heading right at them. "Run now!!" Instead of standing his ground to fight them to the death, Puck grabbed Ryoko's arm and they both bolted down the hallway.

By the time the two were at the sixth door, the dog-like creatures were so close that Ryoko could see every detail on their terrifying faces. "GO-GO GO!!" Puck yelled at Ryoko as he pushed her forward and planted his feet in one spot.

Ryoko did not notice that Puck had stopped to face the creatures until she heard one of the creatures cry out in pain. _Puck..._Glancing back, she watched as Puck killed two more creatures at the same time. _Just do as he says Ryoko-the quicker you get the treasure the quicker you can get out of here...alive_.

Just as Ryoko turned back to the front, she was sent to the floor by a powerful blow from the creature she had sent down the hallway crying for its mother. Howling loudly, the creature loomed over Ryoko with drool dripping down the side of its mouth.

Shaking her head to regain her senses, Ryoko's eyes began to glow the same color as the creature's, "Bad mistake..." she snarled as she disappeared from its sight. The creature was too confused to notice that Ryoko had reappeared right behind it with her energy sword raised.

Once the creature was dead, Ryoko bolted for the treasure; which was only three more doors away from where she was at the moment. At the circular door, Ryoko quickly pulled out the explosives and threw them around the door. After creating a protective shield, she blew the circular door off and into minuscule pieces. Lowering her shield, Ryoko's eyes went wide when she saw the stacks of gold and silver in the vault. "There is more here than there was in Juria," she was amazed by how much these creatures had collected over the years.

Reaching down to pick up a golden cup decorated with colorful gems, Ryoko heard Puck cry out in pain. _This is your chance Ryoko! Take the gold and leave him there to die...do it! He told you too...so you can't blame yourself for it. He's your enemy remember that Ryoko..._ She glanced down at the golden cup in her hand and threw it back into the treasure vault, _No more..._Ryoko thought as she disappeared from the vault.

The creatures were closing in on Puck; he was weak, unable to fight them all off now. As one creature lunged at his throat for the final death blow, it screeched in pain and fell at Puck's feet dead. "Anyone else care to try that again?" Ryoko snarled at the dog-like creatures as she stood in front of Puck with her energy sword twitching in her hands.

Puck was stunned, she was saving him from these things...when he was the one who had captured her and brought her here in the first place. Killing six more creatures, the rest began to back away from her in fear. "You better retreat," she hissed at them as she attacked one that was in her reach.

When only five remained in the group, they cried out in fear and retreated back down the hallway with their tails between their legs. Ryoko fell to her knees exhausted from overusing her strength to drive the creatures away. "We-better-go..." she panted to Puck as she watched him slowly get off of the ground.

"But what about the treasure-if you don't get it my sister will-" he watched her carefully as he chose the right words to say, "-cut the deal short..."

Ryoko bit her lip as she pulled herself up to her feet, "Live today...fight tomorrow..." she whispered.

Another set of cries echoed through the hallway, "We can't take them all Puck..." she whispered as she tried to move her wounded arm around to get some feeling back into it.

Nodding silently, Puck helped Ryoko down the hallway before the creatures could find them. The two barely made it out of the hallway alive, with the dog-like creatures following their trail of blood, the pirates were lucky enough to make it outside in one bruised piece.

"You should have grabbed the treasure, Ryoko," Puck whispered as he set up the transportation coordinates as quickly as he could. "It was a mistake..."

Ryoko glanced behind to see the dog-like creatures chasing after them, "I know..." she sighed as they were transported back to the ship with the creatures only a few feet away from them.

----------------------------------

Back on the ship, Puck barely had enough strength to lock Ayeka in her cell when she threatened to start screeching again unless he took her back to Earth. Crashing into his comfy seat, Puck was just as exhausted as Ryoko was. He glanced over to Ryoko who was watching her shoes as if they were the most interesting things she had ever seen.

"Thanks..." he gave Ryoko a weak smile when she glanced over to him. "I owe you one..."


	10. Discovering The Truth

**Discovering the Truth**

That night Ryoko could not fall asleep, she thought it was the pain that was keeping her awake but it was actually something else. Wincing from the pain in her arm, she crawled out of her bed and was about to open her room's door when she heard voices outside. There were only two voices, a deep sullen one which Ryoko recognized as Puck's voice and another which she could not tell who it was. _It's not Ayeka and that doesn't really sound like Eriko's voice...who is he talking to_?

Silently she cracked her door opened, poking her head out to see Puck talking to someone at the front of the ship on the main screen. "Your sister owes a lot of money Puck..." growled someone on the screen.

"I know...I'm working on it right now...We almost have all of your money," Puck whispered as he made one of the gold bars shine in the light. "I promise you'll have it all in your hands in a few weeks."

"My patience is running thin...You will only have two more weeks to get me the money..." the man did not seem to be pleased with Puck.

Puck placed the gold bar in his back pocket, "We are going to hold the Princess of Jurai as a hostage until her father gives us more gold..."

"That's still not enough money though Puck..."

The silver-haired pirate let a long sigh out, "It's the best we can do right now-"

"I thought your sister said that you were going to turn Ryoko in to the Galaxy Police for some ransom money...that would be better than the ransom, Puck."

_RANSOM?! _Ryoko narrowed her eyes angrily at Puck as she continued to listen to their conversation, _Well at least I'm worth more that Ayeka_.

"Well-we changed our minds about it..." Puck snarled towards the man on the screen. "My sister has other plans for _her_," he took a seat in his comfy chair and stretched his legs out.

"Just have the money in time Puck-or you and your sister are going to be working for me for a very long time," the screen shutoff leaving Puck in the dark.

Puck threw the gold bar across the ship, it echoed loudly as it slammed into the wall and flopped to the floor. "Damn it all..." he muttered as he fell back into his chair.

The screen turned back on, "Stop pouting Puck..." hissed a voice on the main screen. Puck turned his chair around to see his sister glaring at him, "Did everything go as planned?" she sounded very eager to hear about something.

He shook his head, "Both traps did not work, Eriko..."

Eriko's face scrunched up as she asked him what had gone wrong with their plans, "What did you do wrong brother?!"

"Well..." he started out in a small voice, "Those Drogues didn't finish her off, and she didn't try to get the treasure, Eriko. The Galaxy Police could not catch her either..." Puck rubbed his shoulder, "Why do you want revenge on her so much, Eriko? Hasn't she suffered enough now?"

Growing red in the face, Eriko gave Puck a dark look, "Why must I keep telling you...? Huh? She ruined my life, destroyed my ship, landed me up in prison-"

"So it has nothing to do with Yakata being murdered by Ryoko's hand-does it?" Puck cocked his eyebrow at his sister. "Because I think it does...and you are planning to kill Tenchi anyways-aren't you?"

_Yakata? Who was that? I don't remember-_ It suddenly dawned on Ryoko who Puck was talking about, Yakata was a sniveling pirate who had an equally crazy robot who tried to kill Tenchi and steal Ryoko's treasure. _I didn't kill him though..._Ryoko could have sworn that she didn't kill him, he was left on that miserable planet and that was the last she had heard from him.

"Why would you care if it's all about Yakata's death or not, huh?" Eriko studied her brother's expression very carefully, "If she doesn't get the last of the treasure in three more days, _kill her yourself_...got me brother?" She glanced over her shoulder to see if Tenchi was still asleep, "Or I'll do it myself..."

The screen flickered off once more; Puck kicked his chair as hard as he could with his right foot, "Why me?" he muttered as he plopped back into his chair. _She saved my life...I can't kill her..._Tugging at his hair for a few moments, Puck finally jumped out of his chair in frustration and stomped into his room slamming the door behind him.

_Ayeka was right...Eriko is going to kill Tenchi if we don't get back to Earth soon enough..._But the princess was right about one other thing that Ryoko did not want to admit, the cyan-haired ex pirate _would_ have to kill Puck to get back home...before he kills her.

-------------

Tenchi was very worried once a month had almost passed since Ryoko's disappearance back into space. He could not sleep soundly anymore with guilt eating away at him, nagging him and taunting him for what he had done to Ryoko before she had left. _So am I really in love with Ryoko_? This question had been the main reason for his lack of sleep; Tenchi couldn't stop thinking about her and feeling like a part of him was suddenly missing.

He remembered how Ryoko had always been there for him, before he had released her from the cave even. Before he stopped believing in "ghosts," he remembered how she comforted him with his grandmother had died. Ryoko was the one to save Tenchi from one of Yosho's old wives; she kept trying to save him until Tenchi snapped back into reality. No matter what Ryoko had done in her past life before he had met her, he knew that Ryoko was a good person.

Now Ayeka was missing, for three days-she disappeared just before Kioyne had arrived to the Masaki house. Tenchi couldn't believe that both of them were gone...permanently maybe. It did not feel right to Tenchi, something was wrong with their sudden disappearances but he nor could Washu figure out the source of the problem.

There was a knock on his door; Tenchi opened his eyes to see Lily peeking into his room with a sweet smile. "Still can't sleep Tenchi?" she asked in a soft whisper.

Sitting up, Tenchi could tell that something was different about Lily, her gentle appearance and look of innocence was gone. _Maybe Ryoko was right..._he wondered if Lily really was lying to him about her true identity. "Yes," Tenchi could not think of anything else to say to her.

Lily opened Tenchi's bedroom door all the way, tip-toed inside and sat next to him on his bed. "Do you want a teddy bear?" she asked with large eyes.

Before Tenchi could say anything, Lily wrapped her arms around his chest and snuggled up next to him; sighing happily once she was in a comfortable position next to him. "I love you Tenchi..." Lily whispered as she slowly fell asleep on his chest. Even though Eriko had not planned this, "Lily" was becoming more and more attached to her Tenchi.

Tenchi wondered if he would ever find Ryoko or Ayeka again, did they just really leave him because he did not pick them-or were they really kidnapped? Either way, Tenchi felt responsible for their sudden disappearance...he will have to find them soon.

--------------

The next morning Ryoko remained completely silent, keeping her eyes on Puck every second she could. Ryoko told Ayeka that she would kill Puck tonight; while he was sleeping-so she could have an advantage over him. She rehearsed in her mind what she would do that night: sneak into his room, carefully make her way over to his bed, aim at his heart, and make the final blow. It was that simple.

Puck did not like how silent it was on the ship that morning; even Ayeka was pretending to act like a little angel from above; he gave Ryoko an odd look while she ate her breakfast quietly. "Are you alright?" he asked in a low voice, making sure that Ayeka could not hear him talking to Ryoko.

With a silent nod, she gulped down her hot tea in a matter of seconds, stuffed a roll into her mouth, and walked back into her room to confuse Puck even more. _I'll get you back for all the pain you've caused me this past month..._she swore to herself mentally.

"What is wrong with her?" Puck asked Ayeka with both of his eyebrows raised towards the princess.

Mimicking Ryoko's silence treatment, she shrugged her shoulders and went back into her cell with a big hidden grin on her face. _You'll find out soon enough_...she hummed to herself as shut her cell door.

"I see how it is..." Puck mumbled, "Give ol' Puck the silence treatment until I send you guys back to Earth..._lovely_..." For a while Puck hesitated knocking at Ryoko's door, he spent all morning wondering if he had done something wrong to her. By late afternoon, Puck acquired enough courage to lightly tap his knuckles on her door.

In a flash the door creaked open with an angry-looking Ryoko poking her head out from her room. "What do you want?" she snarled in a halfway decent tone. _Remember to play nice Ryoko...he can not know what is wrong-he doesn't know that you know_.

Before Puck could reply, Ryoko swung the door all the way open to revel her badly broken arm; she was just wearing a small robe. "I-er-was..." he began to blush slightly as he tried to look away.

"Well if you're not going to tell me..." she turned away to shut the door behind her but Puck caught it just before it shut all the way.

Regaining his composure, Puck tugged out a tangled mess of bandages, "I thought you might need these..." He caught her giving him a faint smile, "So will you tell me what is wrong now?"

Ryoko's smile disappeared quickly as she slammed the door in front of Puck's face and locked it loudly, muttering some swear words under her breath in the process. "Later then?" Puck called out as he rubbed his nose tenderly.

Later that night, Ryoko snuck out of her room with her red eyes glowing in the darkness; tonight was the night. _Just remember the plan, and then you can go save Tenchi..._With some difficulty, Ryoko had managed to gain some feeling back into her wounded arm-she would need it tonight. Tiptoeing silently across the shiny ship's floor, the ex space pirate carefully slipped into Puck's room.

From afar, Ryoko could see Puck sleeping peacefully in his comfortable bed; he had not heard her come in. He moved in his sleep, frightening Ryoko so much that she jumped through his bedroom wall just incase he would awaken. When she thought it was safe, she went through the wall head first.

An energy sword appeared in Ryoko's usable arm, she took a few steps closer to Puck to make sure that he really was asleep. Two thoughts ran through her mind: one was to drive her sword through his heart and the other was to leave him sleeping soundly. _Don't stop now, not when you are so close to success Ryoko_!

Puck whispered something in his sleep which made Ryoko back away from him with a pale look on her face. _He just didn't-did he_? Even though Ryoko was questioning what he had said, deep down she knew that he had just whispered her name in his sleep. Something in the back of Ryoko's mind triggered a memory that happened only a few weeks ago. _"You can always tell how much a person likes someone when they say their name whilst sleeping_..." Puck was the one who had told her that, when he had accidentally heard her call out Tenchi's name.

So was it true? Was Puck really in love with Ryoko-or was he playing games with her mind? _But he was trying to kill me..._she protested to her heart silently. _Then why aren't you already dead Ryoko? He could have killed you from day one...you know that_. The pieces in the scrambled puzzle were finally coming together, Puck had feelings for Ryoko and she had feelings for him. _NO! I love Tenchi!_ Ryoko would not allow herself to be deceived again; she had fallen for the same trick before.

Ryoko stood above Puck with a sullen look; he looked so much like Tenchi when he was there asleep in his bed. Shaking her head, Ryoko convinced herself that Puck was not Tenchi-he was her enemy. Quickly, the ex space pirate raised her energy sword above Puck's rising and falling chest, _Just close your eyes...drive it through and go home Ryoko...go home..._There was a pause before she drove her sword through, she opened her eyes to see her energy sword an inch away from Puck's back. Ryoko had purposely missed, for the second time-she could not kill him.

_I am home_...she told herself as she tried to hold back the oncoming tears. Puck had gotten closer to her than she had planned or hoped for; she was in love with him now. _I can't do it..._A tear rolled down her pallid cheeks and dripped onto Puck's shoulder, nearly waking him up. The energy sword disappeared from Ryoko's hands in a flash. With a broken hearted look, Ryoko retreated to the end of Puck's bed and sobbed silently on the edge. _I'm sorry Tenchi-please forgive me..._

More tears fell from her eyes as she lowered her head, wishing to have never been released from that cave on Earth so many years ago. Ryoko had suffered so much for the man she loved, and for what? Tenchi had never returned her affections for him, he had broken her heart dozens of times, and now he wasn't going to come rescue her. Now she was in love with someone else, her enemy..._He's not my enemy-he's my..._

A warm hand touched her shoulder; Ryoko glanced up to see Puck watching her with a concerned look. _Friend..._She remembered how good it felt to have someone she could talk to in the middle of the night; someone who would watch her back. _I won't go back..._

"I didn't think I'd see the day where you'd be crying at the foot of my bed," Puck whispered softly as he moved to sit to the left of her. "Look...I didn't mean to offend you in any way...I don't know what I did wrong-but I'm sorry..."

Ryoko gave him a broken smile as another tear fell onto her lap; he would never be her enemy. _Just tell him...don't let this one get away from you! You love him_... Without thinking twice, Ryoko wrapped her arms around Puck's chest and began sobbing on his right shoulder. "I'm-i-n...lo-ve...wit-h-_you_," she finally admitted to him loudly.

Puck's lips curled into a weak grin, "Did you get into the booze? Because I specifically remember you calling me a son-" he was pushed back onto his bed by Ryoko's strong arms.

Their faces were just inches apart as Ryoko laid on top of him with tears still streaming down her cheeks, "_Kiss me_..." she whispered to him desperately. "Please tell me that you love me back," Ryoko was almost begging him to love her when he just stared at her with an odd look. "_Please Puck_..." she pleaded for the last time. _Please...I love you so much..._

He wiped a tear away from her cheek with his rough hand, "I thought you'd never ask..." Puck slipped his hands behind her head and gently pulled her into a kiss. After they had kissed, he wrapped his arms around her as she rested her head on his chest; she finally had won the game. "I'm in love with you Ryoko..." Puck whispered into her ear sweetly.

Ryoko fell asleep in Puck's arms; he played with her blue hair lovingly while she slept soundly on his chest. _My only one_...

* * *

Note to everyone: I have just joined Let's see, I have about 5 or 6 drawings of Ryoko and a drawing of Puck if you want to see what he looks like. My deviantart website addy is:  I just wanted to thank everyone who has reviewed and read this story. I was also hoping if someone could help me out with the ending of this story, I need someone to help me choose which ending to go with. I have two so far and I can't decide which one I like more...so if anyone would care to help me...please contact me at: Thank you so much!

xoxox Hunter


	11. Playing Hero

**Playing Hero**

"Hmmm…" Washu rubbed her chin as she began to consider the possible connections between her daughter's disappearance and Ayeka's sudden one. There was only one suspect in the mad scientist's mind: Lily. Of course Tenchi would never believe this unless Washu could find some proof that Lily really did have something to do with it. Washu sighed unhappily; she had no evidence so far.

The information she had retrieved from the ship's blue plans was not sufficient enough for her to determine the creator. Kiyone and Mihoshi had just begun their search in space for any clues; so far they were unsuccessful also. It was all up to Washu to save the day; she would have to search every tidbit of the bleak sky to find what she needed for proof.

"Now if I can only remember what Ryoko had called Lily when Tenchi had first brought her over for dinner," Washu continued to rub her chin. She could remember every known and unknown equation in the entire universe off the top of her head but she could not remember a name that had been spoken almost a month ago. "Was it Erin?" she bit her thumb as she strained her brain to remember the name.

It was futile; Washu would not be able to remember the name on an empty stomach. Stretching as she got out of her chair, Washu casually went out of her room and silently headed towards the kitchen. "Time for me to get some brain food…" she poked her head inside the refrigerator to find something edible.

Just as she pulled out a plump carrot, Ryo-oki came out of nowhere and tried to steal the carrot away from the mad scientist. Using the same strategy she had done with Tenchi, Ryo-oki clawed at Washu's hands until the pink-haired alien released the carrot in pain. With the prize in her mouth, Ryo-oki scrambled away from Washu meowing happily all the way outside.

Sasami came into the kitchen to find Washu glaring darkly at nothing in particular, "Are you alright Washu?" she noticed the mad scientist pocketing her bloody hands.

"Just trying to relax my mind…" she grumbled as she tried to fix her frazzled hair with a crazy invention she had suddenly found in her pocket. Walking out of the kitchen, she heard some yelling outside, coming from the back porch.

"PUCK!" Lily screamed into a small device on her wrist, "ANSWER ME DAMNIT! STOP SLEEPING AND WAKE UP!!"

Washu slipped away from the door to the porch unnoticed and bolted for her room to run a search on the G.P.'s criminal files. Twenty minutes later, she found the evidence that she needed. Two files had pulled up, one was labeled "Puck" and the other was labeled "Eriko." "Ryoko was right about her…" Washu whispered to herself as she printed the files out to show them to Tenchi.

-------------------

_I don't want to wake up now…_Without opening her eyes, Ryoko stretched her arm out to try and feel for Puck. After spending a minute searching with her eyes tightly shut, she did not feel Puck's presence. _It never happened…It was all a dream…_Ryoko hesitated to open her eyes, _What if none of this has happened? Maybe I'll be back home of Earth…_Gaining some courage, she finally opened one eye and then the next; she was back in her own room…on the space ship that is. _So I never told him then… _Just before she was going to pound on her pillow and cry her eyes out, she heard someone in her room.

"You thought I left you?" Puck was leaning back in a wooden chair, the front legs of his chair in the air and his back touching the wall behind him. "Good morning sunshine," he laughed when he saw Ryoko's startled expression. Slyly he left his seat, finding a new one right in front of Ryoko on her bed, "Sleep well?"

Ryoko had never seen anyone give her the look that Puck was giving her; it was a look of affection and love. Sure, Ryo-oki would do the same expression to Ryoko…but this was a person who was giving her this look-not an animal. "Hi…" was all she could stammer out; Ryoko was shocked by his expression still.

Lifting his hand, Puck lightly touched her pale hand; he lovingly rubbed his thumb on her hand. "What do you want to steal today?" he sounded chipper and pleased.

"LET ME OUT OF THIS CELL NOW RYOKO!!" Ayeka began pounding on her cell door as hard as she could, screaming her lungs out.

Puck rolled his eyes, "Why does she always have to ruin the romantic mood?" he grumbled as he let her hand go. While he was getting up, he bent over, kissing Ryoko on the cheek and then left her room humming cheerfully to himself.

_Am I awake?_ Ryoko pulled on her cheek until she cried out in pain, _You are Ryoko…Admit it…you are in love with him-more than you loved Tenchi_. There was some hesitating before she got up from her bed, _Is this all true-or is this just an act?_

Before she could think anymore about this, Ryoko heard Ayeka yelling at Puck as he tried to open the cell door for her. In a matter of seconds, Ryoko jumped out of her bed to see Ayeka cornering Puck at the control center with something glistening in the princess' hands. _Why did she have to convince me into giving her a dagger?!_

"Come on Lady Ayeka-you don't want to do this…" Puck said in a semi-casual voice as he backed up into the main computer's controls.

Ayeka had a look of death in her eyes, "You should have thought of what would happen before you captured me!!"

By a stroke of bad luck, the main computer screen came on with Lily giving Puck hell for not answering her messages. Lily stopped halfway when she suddenly noticed the Princess of Jurai holding a dagger in her hands and Puck cornered at the front of the screen. "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!"

"This isn't my day…" Puck sighed unhappily to himself.

A moment later Ryoko appeared behind Ayeka without her even knowing, ripping the dagger away from Ayeka's delicate hands. There was a struggle, including Puck who was trying to stop the two girls from fighting each other. When Ayeka would not give up the dagger, Ryoko kicked Ayeka into the ship's computer, cutting off Lily's angry voice and knocking some sense back into Ayeka.

Ryoko glanced over to Puck, "Are you alright?" she whispered to him as she pocketed the dagger.

He had a frightened look in his eyes and his hair was frazzled, "Yes-and no…" Puck glanced over to Ayeka who was trying to get up from where she had fallen, "My sister will be here in a minute… We have to get you two out of here," he started to turn around but stopped halfway.

"What have you been up to my dear brother?" hissed Eriko as she appeared right in front of him. Her emerald eyes glowed menacingly as she pointed her sword at his throat, "I have the strangest feeling that you haven't been sticking to our plans…"

_Neither have you…_Ryoko grinded her teeth as she watched Eriko taunt her brother. "You bastard…" she snarled at Eriko.

"Your precious Tenchi is coming soon to rescue you two…but he won't be making the trip home," Eriko laughed brightly. Turning her attention back to her brother, Eriko flicked her energy sword at him, leaving a slash mark in his shoulder. "So tell me…What part of _getting all of the gold_ don't you understand?"

Energy was building up in Ryoko; she barely had any left from her attempt to steal the gold and silver from those dreadful creatures a few days ago. "Leave him alone!" Ryoko snarled as her energy sword quickly appeared in her hands. Without thinking twice, she went at Eriko-but Ryoko was weaker than she thought she was.

In two swift movements, Eriko managed to knock Ryoko to the floor of the ship and then shoot a bolt of electricity at her. "Tsk tsk…" she laughed evilly at the ex space pirate as she stood over her, "You're all out of energy…how can you expect to beat me if you're all out of energy?"

Puck took a step towards Ryoko but Eriko pointed her sword back at her brother, "I would not recommend you doing that dear brother…" she sneered at him in a dark voice.

Behind Eriko and Puck, Ayeka was watching all of this happen with her knees shaking. _So Ryoko and Puck…_Shaking her head, Ayeka jumped up and tried to tackle Eriko with all of her strength. The two flailed around, but Eriko finally got the upper hand on Ayeka and she chucked the princess into the nearest wall. "_Now…_" she grumbled with her sword back at Puck's throat, "I suggest that you take us to that planet, before I change my mind and kill her right now…"

Glaring at his sister, Puck lowered his head as he went over to the control area; _I suggest that you don't even try to lay a hand on her_…

"As for you…" Eriko lowered her head to examine Ryoko; who was still on the floor barely conscious. "You are going to get me that treasure, or I'll kill your Tenchi-and _him_…" she whispered in a low voice so Puck could not hear her.

_Please don't…_With the remaining strength she had, Ryoko slowly got up off the floor. Her knees buckled as she tried to stay standing; she wouldn't be able to get the treasure like this-she would die in the process. "If you change your deal…I'll make sure you don't survive long enough to see all of your treasure," the ex space pirate threatened.

Puck was watching from behind his sister as the control area, _She's too weak…she won't make it on her own down there…_He felt a throbbing pain in his shoulder where his sister had slashed at him; blood was trickling down, turning his blue shirt into a dark shade of purple. The computer beeped at Puck, signaling that they were nearing the dry desert-like planet; _I'll have to go with her…_

Eriko beamed, "So there is still some fire left in you, good-" she glanced behind her shoulder to see if Puck was doing what he was suppose to be doing, "How close are we?"

There was a pause, Puck dreaded what he was going to say in response, but he didn't want his sister to hurt Ryoko again. "We're here…"he grumbled unhappily as he got up from his seat.

His sister stared blankly at him, "Where do you think you are going?" she snapped at him in a pissed tone of voice.

"She doesn't know where the treasure is down there, I have to show her where it is…" he muttered as he took another step closer to Ryoko.

In a flash, Eriko's energy sword forced him back three steps, "She can find it on her own…you don't need to _help_. _Understand_?"

Puck didn't know what to do; he glanced over to Ryoko to see her nodding silently at him to stay on the ship; sighing he turned back and went to the control area, "I understand…"

"Good boy," Eriko said in a sarcastic voice, "Now teleport her down there before the Galaxy Police find us."

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"Tenchi!!" Sasami cried out inside the Massaki household, she ran out of the dinning area and bolted upstairs to find Tenchi in his room with Washu. "Tenchi! You have to come see this…" the young Jurai Princess panted at the doorway of his room.

"What is it Sasami?" Washu asked as she and Tenchi had worried expressions on their faces.

Sasami was about ready to burst into tears, "She's going to kill Ayeka and Ryoko!" she sobbed in the doorway. "She left us a message in the dinning area…if we don't get there in time-she'll kill them!!"

Without another word, Tenchi sprinted past Sasami and jumped down the stairs; nearly tripping on the last few steps; slipping over to the dinning area to find a holograph image of Lily above the dinning table. Anger clouded Tenchi's mind as he yelled at the holograph, "What do you want with Ryoko and Ayeka?!"

The holograph gave him a fake smile, "What everyone person wants…revenge and wealth beyond your imagination. But the question is what do you want with Ryoko and Ayeka? I'm giving you a choice here; you can either save your space pirate or your princess."

This was the real Lily in front of Tenchi; she was nothing but a mirage this entire time he had known her. "What if I don't come?" he was hoping to ruin Lily's plan by pretending not to really care about them.

"Then I'll turn Ryoko's dead body into the Galaxy Police for the reward money and I'll hold the princess as ransom until her daddy pays for her safe return…But I'm still deciding on whether to kill her anyways or not…" The holograph began walking back and forth as she continued to speak, "So, if you don't come…I'll kill them anyways-and you're too warm-hearted to let that happen."

Tenchi went pallid, "Why are you doing this?" he asked in a frightened voice.

"Does a villain really need a reason for killing someone?" Lily's holographic form changed into her true form-Eriko. "_I don't think so_…" she laughed loudly just as Washu and Sasami came into the dinning area. Eriko flicked her black hair back behind her ears, "I'll be waiting for you Tenchi-you have five hours…" The holograph flickered off, leaving Tenchi with his heart pounding in his chest.

"Go get Ryo-oki, Sasami…" Tenchi whispered as he thought about what he should do.

"Do you have a plan, Tenchi?" Sasami asked in a frightened voice, "Will Ayeka and Ryoko be alright?"

Lowering his head, Tenchi didn't know what to say to poor Sasami but the truth, "One of them will be alright…"

Washu glanced over to the mechanical device that had produced the holograph of Eriko, "I'll contact Mihoshi and Kiyone about this…" the mad scientist offered in a small voice.

------------------

Spitting up sand, Ryoko slowly made her way back into the treasure vault; she was surprised to see that the titanium door that she and Puck had blasted down was still melted to the floor. _Wouldn't they fix that? Hasn't it been a few days since we've been here?_ Again, Ryoko had a terrible feeling that something was not right here.

With some caution, the ex space pirate crept her way into the main silver hallway and managed not to draw any attention to herself. _Where are those things?_ Peering down the hallway, she could see nothing around her…the creatures weren't even hiding above her this time. _This isn't right…_

It was easy for Ryoko to follow the path to the main treasure vault; the wall they had gone through was still missing in one of the rooms. Following the charcoaled walls and floors, she found her way to the hallway that was only a few feet away from the vault. There was still nothing in sight, forcing Ryoko to stop in her tracks. _I know that we didn't kill them all the last time were we here…_

Taking a step forward, she tried to convince herself that if she didn't get the treasure-her two loves in her life would be killed. Ryoko wouldn't be able to defend herself if she was ambushed, she could barely walk without falling down. Counting the doors, Ryoko was drawing nearer to the twelfth door down the hallway. _Remember the trap Ryoko…remember that there is a trap in the vault…_

Swallowing her fears, Ryoko went into the treasure vault to find herself in a horrible trap. The creatures had somehow known that she was coming back for the treasure; instead of attacking her in the hallway where she could have easily escaped, they were patiently waiting for her in the treasure room. "I guess there is no way that we can talk this fight out?" she whispered.

The leader of the group of dog-like creatures howled at Ryoko, extending the claws that it had to attack her. Just before the creatures assaulted her, she remembered that she had the dagger she had taken away from Ayeka. Pulling out the dagger, Ryoko was ready to fight the twenty creatures to the death, "I'm dead…" she whispered.

* * *

Note To Readers: I'm sorry I haven't updated for a while. It has been Thanksgiving Break and I've had finals all month long. Chapter 12 will be coming soon, I'm in the process of finishing it up. I just wanted to thank everyone again for reading this fanfiction and sending me possitive feedback. Please let me know if I have made any terrible mistakes in this story. Thank you so much, I really appreciate this!  
Btw, I am on Deviantart now. My username is Hunter0309, I have artwork from this fanfiction posted there. Merry X-Mas to everyone!  
xoxoxo Hunter0309 


	12. Final Moments

**Final Moments**

Puck began pacing back and forth in front of the control area; his muscles were tense as he waited to press a single button. As soon as he heard Ryoko's voice, he promised himself that he would teleport her back onto the ship as quickly as he could. He paced behind his sister, wondering and praying that his Ryoko would be alright.

His sister; who was sitting in her favorite chair sipping some green tea from her flowered-painted, china cup; had a bright smirk on her lips as she watched him pace around the ship. "Why are you so worried dear brother?" Eriko asked in a sly voice. "She will get us that treasure…Do not fret about that…" Leaning back, she gave her brother a smug look from her comfortable chair, "That filthy rat is impossible to kill, she always keeps springing back."

Not listening to a word she had said, Puck continued to pace near the control area of the ship; silently telling himself that Ryoko would be okay. _Please let her come back in one piece…_The space pirate hovered around the teleportation device, waiting to swiftly press the button to get his love back on the ship. It had already been twenty minutes since she had gone down to the planet; it took them both twenty-five minutes to be outnumbered the day before last. _I can't lose her…_Puck scowled at the main screen hoping to see something, but all he saw was dust and sand dunes…nothing more.

Eriko was noticing his odd behavior, she was wondering why he was acting so differently now. "What ails you, dear brother?" she could not understand why he was so worried about some treasure. For once, the softer side of her was showing; Eriko gave her only relative a concerned look, "Puck?"

_This love is what ails me…and you are just adding to my pain…_Puck wished he could tell his sister the truth, but he knew what she would say to this little secret he was hiding from her. "You must let her go after this-she has done all that you have asked, Eriko…" he sighed loudly as he stopped pacing a few feet behind his sister.

His sister's soft look hardened, "What are you talking about?" she half laughed at him. Eriko's eyes widened when she realized what the matter with her brother was, "Do you remember what happened to Charlotte?" she snarled at Puck.

Of course he remembered what had happened to his beloved Charlotte, she was-_I won't let that happen again…_Puck glared at his sister with hatred in his eyes; he did not reply to his sister's question-she knew that he had gotten her message.

"Lose your attraction to her before she ends up being like Charlotte," Eriko unpocketed a long blade from the side of her right black leather boot and placed it on her lap. "If you don't finish it-_I will for you_…" she snapped as she drank the rest of her tea silently.

The two remained silent on the ship; not wanting to discuss anything unless they would have to. When forty minutes had passed, Puck was ready to transport himself down there to help Ryoko out. Thankfully, he heard Ryoko's voice on the main screen, "I have the treasure," her voice relaxed Puck's uptight mind.

Twenty seconds later, Ryoko appeared in the center of the ship with three leather bags swung over her back. There was a faint smile on her lips as she dropped the bags onto the floor. From afar, Ryoko looked in pretty good shape-apart from the torn clothing-from being cornered by twenty monsters. But as Puck drew closer to her, he could see the faint bruises and the deep cuts embedded into her pale skin.

Puck was at ease though, she was alive…Ryoko was in fair condition-or so he thought. There was an urge for him to go to Ryoko's side, but he was stopped by his sister when she left her chair to move towards the ex space pirate. In fear, Puck remained behind his sister, watching Ryoko with a faint smile on his lips also.

"So you actually did it…" Eriko sounded half amazed by this feat that Ryoko had performed. "You really are one of the greatest space pirates in the galaxies-well done Ryoko." Eriko's silver sword swiped one of the bags, making it spill all of its contents out onto the floor. "Now we are almost even," she laughed pleasingly as she went over to the control area again.

There wasn't much energy left in Ryoko; her knees were buckling as she used her strength to remain standing; she could barely stay conscious. But rage surged through her body when she had heard Eriko's laughter, "_ALMOST?!_" Ryoko cried out. "I've done everything-you promised me that I was done after this!!" Grinding her teeth, Ryoko tried to control her surging anger but the pain from her wounds only stopped her from trying to strangle Eriko. Closing her eyes in pain, she could feel herself becoming weaker by the minute. Ryoko's voice wasn't as strong as it used to be, "You promised…Eriko…"

Without turning to face her enemy, Eriko kept her eyes on the main screen of the ship, "Your Tenchi is coming soon to rescue you-or Ayeka…I'm forcing him to choose between you two…" Puck could see the malicious grin on his sister's face; she was not his sister anymore… As if she knew that her brother was watching her movements, Eriko pointed to the cell door with her index finger. "Lock her in with the princess until he comes…" she ordered in a dark voice.

Solemnly, Puck went over to Ryoko to see something he did not want to see…blood was dripping onto the floor from the tips of her fingertips. He gave her a frightened look, but Ryoko mouthed "Do not worry" to him. Carefully Puck helped her to the cell; she could barely make it to the cell door without falling down.

When the cell door was opened, Ayeka opened her mouth to yell at Puck but saw Ryoko, who was badly beaten and bruised, enter the cell with him. Puck had a defeated look in his eyes; he stood at the doorway for a few seconds until he had to close the door on them. _That is it…_he made a pair of fists with his hands as he watched his sister smugly sit in her chair. _This madness must stop here…_As Puck went towards his sister, his energy sword appeared in his hands; he would end it somehow… Puck knew that he had two options before him: he would either die trying to save those two girls, or he would triumph over his sister and save the day. He knew what would happen to him, and it would most likely be the former. Still, Puck knew he had to confront his sister sooner or later…before someone he cared about would be killed, when he could have prevented it. "Release them Eriko…" the space pirate snarled at his picturesque sister, "Or I'll make you…"

Ryoko leaned back against the wall holding her ribs in pain; she was dying slowly and painfully. The princess had a pallid complexion as she helped Ryoko onto the uncomfortable bed; she saw blood stains where Ryoko was in terrible pain. "Ryoko?" she whispered to her as the ex space pirate laid her head back onto the hard mattress.

"He's coming…" Ryoko whispered as she closed her eyes; she could finally rest in peace. "Tenchi is coming for you…Ayeka…" slowly she moved her right arm to put pressure on a certain side of her ribs. A cry of pain came from her pallid lips; her ribs were broken and she was eventually going to bleed to death from her wounds; a stream of tears glided down her cheeks.

Even though Ryoko knew that she was going to die, she felt at peace with herself. She had finally found someone who actually loved her in return of her affection, she had accomplished the unbelievable-stealing three times more in one month than her usual, but most of all…Ryoko had realized where she belonged-out in the open, inviting stars of the galaxies. The only regret Ryoko had was that Tenchi should have left for Tokyo sooner; she could have been back in space enjoying the rest of her life. _But it doesn't matter now…You can not undue the past. _

Ayeka was ready to cry; even though she and Ryoko had always gotten into fights with one another, she was best friends with her. No matter how many times Ayeka had wished for Ryoko to return back to space, she always took her wish back the second she made it. Past all of the fights, they were close friends…who helped each other when they really needed it. Ryoko would never admit that she liked Ayeka even the teensiest bit, but she has saved Ayeka's life many times. When Ayeka was too weak to carry on, there was Ryoko with a headstrong personality charging through life with a drink in her hands. Even though Ryoko did not know it, she had affected everyone's life in different ways…not just Tenchi's normal life. "Lord Tenchi is coming for you too Ryoko," Ayeka knelt down next to her with a smile.

Weakly, Ryoko opened one eye to see Ayeka crying silently next to her, "Just get out of here when you have the chance, _Princess_…" She smiled painfully to her childhood enemy, "Tenchi has always preferred _you_ more anyways…" Closing her eyes once more, Ryoko's arm fell to the side of the bed as she became unconscious; Ayeka could see blood flowing down her fingers and dripping onto the floor. Ryoko wasn't dead yet, but was just hanging on by a thread… She knew this was the end for her-but she didn't want to let go just yet.

"No…" Ayeka whispered, "Lord Tenchi has always loved you more…" Lowering her head, Ayeka could hear some yelling coming outside of cell's door; in a few moments the yelling died and she heard something slam against the door. "We all love you Ryoko…"

--------

Ryo-oki soared through the galaxies as fast as she could go; now in ship form, the Masaki household was making their way to where Ryoko and Ayeka were being held captive. Tenchi was controlling the ship; he had a cold look in his eyes as he watched the empty galaxies in front of him. _Ryoko was right…I should have believed her._ There was something missing in Tenchi's heart now; he felt terrible for what he had done to Ryoko.

In the back of his mind, Tenchi felt as if time was running out for him to save Ryoko; he knew that Eriko would not harm Ayeka until the Juriain family is alerted about their daughter's kidnapping.

Crossing her fingers, Washu tapped diligently into a keyboard trying to find Ryoko's trace in the galaxy. She had determined which galaxy her daughter was in, but not the exact area or planet region. Eriko had covered her tracks quite nicely, but Washu would soon crack the code to find out where Ryoko and Ayeka were being kept.

The younger Juriain Princess watched Tenchi with a different expression; Sasami was confused, frightened, and worried about her sister and Ryoko. What Tenchi had said earlier to Sasami earlier made her think of what would happen to the two; if Tenchi chose to save one…the other would die. Sasami wanted her sister to be saved, but she knew this was going to be the hardest choice for Tenchi…he wanted to save them both so badly. Ayeka had a family, and a sister to spend the rest of her life with, while Ryoko had no one but Tenchi.

Tenchi didn't know who he was going to save; he just couldn't think straight right then. All he was worried about was getting there in time-to save at least one of them. "Keep going Ryo-oki!!" he growled under his breath as he concentrated on finding the planet.

"THERE! I FOUND HER, TENCHI!" Washu called above Tenchi's head from an invisible second floor of the ship. "Ryoko and Ayeka are another twenty minutes away from here! Straight ahead, Tenchi!" Washu's fingers began to burn as she tried to get more details on Ryoko's position on the planet, but the signal on Ryoko was suddenly cut off. "That bitch cut me off…" the mad scientist yelled at her mini computer to try to find the signal again.

A small flame of hope burned in Tenchi's heart, he was going to save them both…no matter what. _I owe it to them…_ "GO RYO-OKI!!" Grinding his teeth, Ryo-oki picked up even more speed to get to the planet before it would be too late.

--------------

"Oh no you don't…" Eriko hummed to herself pleasantly as she pressed a button on the ship's main control panel, "No cheating Tenchi…" Twirling around in her seat, singing softly, she caught a quick glance of her brother in the background behind her. She had obviously not heard her brother the first time, so Puck decided to make his final stand against her.

Puck finally had enough with this game, "You release them right now, Eriko…" he snapped at her with his energy sword in his hands.

She began to laugh, "Did I hear you correctly, dear brother?" Eriko turned her head slightly to see him holding his energy sword. "So you want to play, do you?" she snarled unhappily as she faded away from Puck's sight.

Glancing around, Puck waited for her to pop back into sight; he knew that she would eventually come back. _Do this for Ryoko…_Puck kept telling himself that to boost his courage.

"Fine…_let's play_…" Eriko appeared to the right side of Puck with her energy sword in her hands also.

Before Puck could react, Eriko embedded her sword deep into his shoulder. With a twist of her wrist, the energy sword caused even more pain for her brother. After this, the energy sword disappeared from Puck's shoulder, leaving a gaping hole where the sword had been. Eriko expected her brother to stop his rebellion and slink back into a corner of the ship like a wounded dog, but he knocked her back into her chair with a right hook from his good arm.

"I'm not _playing this time Eriko_!!" Puck snarled back at his sister as she gracefully jumped back up on her feet with her energy sword back in her hands.

Blood was coming from the corner of Eriko's bruised lips, "Well…_in that case then_…" In a flash, Eriko kicked Puck into the cell's door as hard as she could. Instantly Puck was knocked out when he hit his head on the door; his silver hair began to turn a dark brown at the back of his head. Bending down, Eriko lifted Puck's head up slightly with two of her fingers under his chin, "Unconcious…" she muttered as she quickly lowered his head back on the ship floor. "I'll deal with you later then…"

Stepping over him, the space pirate opened the cell door with her energy sword pointed at Ayeka's pale throat. Ayeka saw Puck's limp body on the floor in front of the cell doorway, tears formed in the princess' eyes. "That's your own brother!" she cried in anger at Eriko, "Your own flesh and blood!"

"Save the lectures for someone who _cares_, _Princess_," Eriko snapped as she grabbed Ayeka by the hair and pulled her out of the cell; locking the cell door behind them. "You and I are going to go take a trip to a nice planet, then I'm going to go and grab your friend…" she hissed as the two disappeared from sight.

--------------

"So, this is where you got the last signal?" Tenchi asked Washu as the three stared at a bright, rusted-colored planet.

Washu nodded silently, _That was the last signal before that bitch Eriko cut me off_… "Yes…" she muttered unhappily.

There was a beeping sound from Washu's computer just as a small screen appeared in front of their faces. "You decided to come after all…" Eriko smirked pleasingly as she coughed some sand out of her mouth. "Here is the deal Tenchi… You pick one of these lovely gals, and you can go back to Earth. I will never come and darken your doorway again…"

Something didn't feel right to Tenchi about Eriko's promise, "What happens to the other one if I don't pick her?!" he wasn't liking this one bit.

"Oh…Silly me," Eriko giggled, "The _loser_ you might say…_loses_ their head…" Her emerald-hued eyes glowed brilliantly as she watched Tenchi become frustrated with her.

"You won't get away with this…" Sasami was on the verge of tears as she clung to Washu, frightened to death.

Beaming, Eriko winked to Tenchi, "Don't bring anyone else with you when you come down, or I'll kill them both-" With that being said, Eriko cut off the connection with Ryoko's ship. She glanced over her right shoulder to someone kneeing on the sand with their hair covering their face, "I think that went well…don't you think, Ryoko?"

The rough, rusty sand around Ryoko was no longer that color, it was black and wet. "Let Ayeka go…she has nothing to do with this Eriko…" Ryoko did not move from her position in the sand; her hands were tied behind her back, her legs were tied in three places, and Eriko had her energy sword pointed in her direction. _At least let her live this ordeal…_

"Hmm…them me think about that for a moment…" Eriko tapped her index finger on her porcelain-like chin, "_No thanks_." Slashing the air with her sword, Eriko began humming to herself as she waited for Tenchi to come for the girls. "If Tenchi chooses Ayeka, he won't be able to protect her from thirty of those creatures…and if he chooses you-he'll have to get through me. Either way, Tenchi will _die_ and so will _you_…"

From far away, Eriko and Ryoko could hear Ayeka's screams across the rusty sand dunes. The princess was tied to a post, an inch off of the sand, waiting to be eaten by those dog-like creatures. "SOMEBODY HELP ME! THIS IS RUINING MY DRESS!!" Ayeka cried out to anyone who would listen to her pleas.

Ryoko lifted her head slightly; she saw Eriko's bruised and bloody chin and lips. _So Puck tried to attack you too…_A tear rolled down her cheek, _Puck…_Turning her head away, Ryoko just wanted Eriko to end her life right there. It wasn't worth living when all her loved ones are gone…Ryoko did not want to be all alone again. _Just end it now…_

"In about thirty seconds your precious Tenchi will be coming down here to save one of you….and in that same time, I'll release those creatures on Ayeka and chop your head off. How does that sound?" Eriko took a step closer to Ryoko, and then paused for a moment before the space pirate kicked her in the back.

Coughing up sand, Ryoko continued to let Eriko push her around without thinking about it. Finally Eriko became bored when Ryoko did not try to fight back or scream in pain, she dropped Ryoko back onto the sand just as Tenchi Masaki appeared a few feet away from them. "Took you long enough…" Eriko mumbled under her breath as she smiled brightly to Tenchi.

Glancing around, Tenchi spotted Ayeka off in the distance screaming about her ruined dress. The Light Hawk Wings sword appeared in Tenchi's hands, the shimmering blue energy sword glowed brighter due to Tenchi's overwhelming anger. "Release them Eriko!!"

The space pirate snorted with laughter, "You have no idea how many people have said those exact words to me this week!" Her emerald-hued eyes shined as she took a step towards Tenchi, "Like I said earlier…you have a choice between your princess or your space pirate. If you don't choose quickly enough, they both will die by my hands or theirs."

_Theirs? What in the world is she talking about?! _Tenchi suddenly heard Ayeka let out a high-pitched scream. "LORD TENCHI!!" Swiftly, Tenchi turned to see horrid dog-like creatures off in the distance heading directly towards Ayeka. "SAVE ME LORD TENCHI!!" _This just got terribly worse than I had planned for…_

"Tick-tock…" Eriko gave Tenchi a menacing smile as she turned back on Ryoko, aiming her sword at Ryoko's neck. Effortlessly, Eriko snatched Ryoko up by the neck, slowly choking her in the process as she raised her energy sword to make the final blow.

Tenchi's mind was racing, _SHIT-SHIT-SHIT! THINK TENCHI! THINK_! Just as he took a step towards Ryoko, Ayeka let out another scream for Tenchi-forcing him to stop in his tracks.

Out of no where, someone appeared right behind Eriko and tried to take a swipe at her with their energy sword. In an instant, Eriko dropped Ryoko onto the sand and turned to defend herself from her attacker. A silver-haired pirate glanced over his shoulder to look at Tenchi, "Save Ayeka from those things-I'll take care of my sister…"

Without another word, Tenchi bolted across the sand dunes to go and rescue Ayeka from the blood hungry creatures. "I'M COMING AYEKA!!" Tenchi yelled as he slid down a sand dune and landed a foot in front of her. A moment later, two creatures lay dead on the desert sand.

"I should have just _killed you_!!" Puck's sister snarled as she dodged a strike made by her younger brother. With her emerald eyes shining darkly, Eriko lunged at her brother-barely missing his throat by a few centimeters. "Then I wouldn't have to be bothered by your stupid fickle heart!!" she panted a few feet away from him with a sneer on her lips. Puck did not reply back, he was no longer related to Eriko…she was his only enemy in this universe.

The two stood there panting in the sand, waiting for the other to make a foolish move. Being impatient like the other had expected Eriko went at Puck with all of her energy and strength. Sidestepping to the left and smoothly sticking out his foot, he tripped Eriko with a faint smile on his lips. After spitting out sand, Eriko jumped back up and took another swing at Puck. Luckily Puck was prepared for her attack; he leaned back and went to the left of his sister.

His sister paused in the sand with a dazed look, "You've been going _easy_ on me this entire time?!" she yelled at him stubbornly. Shaking her head, Eriko regained her composer, "No matter…I'll kill you anyways…"

"Not if I know all of your moves…" Puck growled as he blocked his sister's frenzy attack. Slightly smiling, Puck took a step back away from his sister as she panted and coughed up more sand.

Narrowing her eyes at him, she pointed her sword at him, "I know all of your moves also, _brother_…" Eriko's face turned sour when Puck began to laugh loudly at her statement, "What is so damn funny?"

"Do you really know all of my moves? Because, you were _right _about me going easy on you before…" he mocked Eriko as he went at her without warning.

"TENCHI! BEHIND YOU!" Ayeka yelped in her usual annoying voice as she tried to help Tenchi dodge the attacks of the creatures.

Tenchi had taken out many of the creatures, but they just kept coming and coming from out of nowhere. When he thought he had killed his twentieth monster, Tenchi glanced around to count how many more were left. _Two times more than what were here originally…_he sighed unhappily. It wasn't that Tenchi was tired; he was just hoping that he could go help whoever was battling Eriko.

There was a scream from behind Tenchi; it did not belong to the monsters either. Just as the scream died down, the monsters began to back away from Tenchi and Ayeka whimpering in fear. Ayeka glanced up to see three ships above their heads, "Kiyone and Mihoshi!!" she cheered as Tenchi quickly untied her from the post that was lodged in the sand.

Dropping from the air, the Galaxy Police landed softly in the sand and charged at the monsters-driving them away from attacking the two any longer. Kiyone and Mihoshi were the last to drop onto the planet; they ran over to their friends with their guns in their hands. "Are you two alright?!" Kiyone called over the loud sound of guns firing and the creatures' cries of pain.

"How did you find us?!" Tenchi yelled back, he was still confused about this entire situation.

Just as Kiyone and Mihoshi were about to answer, Ryo-oki appeared from out of the sky and landed close by. After Washu and Sasami were out, Ryo-oki changed back into her space rabbit form. "Someone sent us a message with the locations to this planet…" Mihoshi stated innocently as Washu, Sasami, and Ryo-oki joined them.

Across the sand dunes, Puck felt someone touch his hand after he had collapsed into the sand. Barely lifting his head up, he found Ryoko reaching out to touch his bloody hand with hers. "I guess this means no vacation to the beaches-then…" Puck coughed weakly as he looked into Ryoko's yellow eyes. The grip on Puck's hand loosened as Ryoko began to slip away, the last thing she saw was Puck's loving smile. "My yellow eyes…"

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Note: I'm still debating over whether this is the end of my Yellow Eyes fanfiction or if I'm going to write one more final chapter to this. It really depends on everyone's reviews and comments about this chapter, so you better review it if you want one more chapter!!


	13. Who Said This Was The End?

**Who Said This Was The End?**

Love is a very powerful emotion, it can make the strongest men fall down to their knees…it can even rule the gods. This emotion can bond two beings from different ends of the world-or the universe. Once this emotion has gotten to you, it is very hard to let it drift away from your life. Love keeps everything alive in the universe; it colors our lives and makes it more worth living. But this emotion can also have terrible prices…Some will die for the ones that they love or sacrifice themselves just to experience the emotion. Loving someone dear can last for an entire lifetime-if the emotion is lost…most can never learn how to love again. This emotion is priceless in our lives; therefore we must use it wisely…

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The Masaki House has been empty for a few years now; the only movement is the wind blowing leaves across the back porch of the house. Everything had been left in their usual spots, untouched by human or alien hands for five years. Brooms and cleaning buckets were covered with dust and dried-up leaves as they leaned against the back of the house. Inside the house, there was only darkness and stale air awaiting anyone who decided to enter this deserted house. Upstairs, all the rooms had been swept clean-the alien girls had finally returned to their home planets.

As for Tenchi's room, it was just as bare as the girls' rooms except for a small picture frame sitting on the wooden window sill. The photograph contained all of the members of the household, each one smiling and laughing. There was one addition to the household, a silver-haired space pirate could be found holding a girl's hand; who was sticking her tongue out towards another girl.

Standing in his bedroom, Tenchi remembered the entire fuss over the group picture. Ayeka did not want the picture taken until her hair was entirely dry and she was finished with her morning routine. Sighing loudly, the ten other members of the household had to wait for twenty minutes until the princess was done beautifying herself. Once that was taken care of, Sasami could not find Ryo-oki; so waiting for another twenty minutes, Sasami came back outside to the group with the space rabbit held tightly in her arms. Sneakily, Ryoko messed the back of Ayeka's hair while she was not paying attention. The princess did not realize what the ex-space pirate had done until her sister was laughing at the sight of her hair. A fight commenced between the two, Puck and Tenchi had to pull the two apart to stop it; the two girls were sent to different ends of the group to cease the fighting. Mihoshi suddenly wanted to wear her Galaxy Police hat, so she had to run back into the house to find it; she ended up coming back out with a totally different hat than what she wanted in the first place. Smacking her forehead the entire time, Kiyone tried to ignore her partner the best she could. Washu finally decided to test out her new invention that would supposedly take pictures, but it misfired and exploded in her face. Bolting back inside the house, Tenchi was forced to find his old fashion camera; which took another ten minutes. With a different camera this time, Washu started to take the picture but realized that someone was missing from the group. Trying to stay unnoticed, Puck was standing off in the background behind Washu as she flipped around to look for him. With five more minutes of coaxing Puck to join in on the family picture, the picture was taken-in a matter of two hours.

"Everyone is gone…" Tenchi whispered to himself as he tightened his grip on his green backpack, "I thought I would never see this day." He had always believed that the alien girls would live with him until his dying day, but once one of the girls left…the rest seemed to follow.

Mihoshi and her smarter partner, Kiyone, were once again united. They moved away from Earth to rejoin their comrades in the Galaxy Police Station close to the planets of the Jurai system. Upon returning to the station, they were promoted from lowly officers to highly-recognized chiefs. The two partners never married due to their considerable amount of time they had to spend catching space pirates. Mihoshi and Kiyone remained the best of friends until the very end, no matter how ditzy Mihoshi could be.

The mad scientist had finally decided that it was time for a change of scenery also. Washu packed all of her computers, inventions, scientific projects, and strange objects into two bloated suitcases. As a goodbye present, Washu gave Tenchi a communicator that she had invented. Tenchi really never knew where Washu had gone to, but he heard from her every once and a while. Even though he didn't tell anyone, Tenchi missed having Washu make crazy tests and inventions…The house was getting quieter with every girl that left Tenchi's home.

Soon after Washu had left for a distant planet, Sasami and Ayeka were planning their trip back to their home planet. Their father and mothers were ready to have them back ruling, but Ayeka always wished that she had stayed on Earth. When it was time for the two sisters to leave, they were bailing on Tenchi's shoulders. The long trip home was very painful for the both of them, but they managed to survive without Tenchi. Ayeka took her father's place as ruler once he was no longer fit to do so, with her sister as her close advisor and best friend. After a few years of being back home, Ayeka had finally found someone suitable enough to marry. She married one of her royal guards, who strikingly resembled Tenchi at a younger age, and they had two children. Being the ruler of her planet, Ayeka had no time to visit Tenchi back on Earth-she soon lost contact with him. Before Ryoko had left, the ex-space pirate sullenly parted with her favorite pet, Ryo-oki. Ryo-oki desperately wanted to go with Sasami back to Jurai, but the space rabbit also wanted to stay with its owner. Making it easier for Ryo-oki, Ryoko decided for her pet to join Sasami and Ayeka. Sasami and Ryo-oki were thereon stuck together like glue, one wouldn't go anywhere without the other. The jewel that connected Ryoko and Ryo-oki was removed from Ryo-oki's forehead; Ryoko never saw her faithful pet ever again.

Sighing, Tenchi tore his eyes away from the photograph, "I'll miss them…" Silently leaving his darkened room, Tenchi went back downstairs and headed towards the front door. He took one last look around his house, this was the last time he was going to see it like this. A faint smile appeared on Tenchi's lips as he remembered everything that had happened since he had been in this house. Turning his back to his past, Tenchi opened the front door, locking it behind him as a tear rolled down his cheek. "I'll miss it all…"

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Watching the sunset off in the distance, Ryoko took a seat on the edge of a jagged rock that was lodged deep into the sand. Closing her eyes, she could hear the distant waves of the ocean clashing against the shore of the golden beach. _This is the sound of my home_… Ryoko had not realized what it felt like to be somewhere you belong, to feel at home.

Yes, she did miss the Masaki house back on Earth, but she did not belong there-Ryoko always felt like an intruder on Earth. Opening her yellow eyes, Ryoko watched the golden hue of the two suns fade into a darker shade of red and then into a hue of royal purple. A glittering tear tumbled down her cheek, _I miss Tenchi…But he's gone now…_Glancing away from the sunset, Ryoko quickly wiped the tear away from the bottom of her chin.

A gentle hand touched her right shoulder; looking back up, Ryoko's yellow eyes were being gazed into by steel colored eyes. "Hey beautiful," Puck whispered as he raised his hand to touch her wet cheek. "Are you alright?" he asked in a soft voice as he pushed her blue hair away from her yellow eyes. Staring into her eyes, he could tell that she had been crying. Puck took a seat on the sand next to Ryoko's feet; he lifted his head up high to watch his love think. "You should go and visit him…" he suggested with a little cough.

Ryoko went pale and turned her head towards him, "I couldn't leave you here all alone…" Her voice was calm now; the rush of the ocean had filled the ex-space pirate with peace. "I've just never spent this long without seeing him…" she lowered her head and placed her hand on her dry cheek. Silently she glanced over to her beloved Puck; he was watching her with a faint smile on his face.

There was a crooked look in his steel eyes, "Five years is long enough to stop madly obsessing about someone, don't you think?" he laughed at her when she just blushed in reply. For a moment, he turned away from Ryoko to catch a glimpse of the fading suns off in the horizon of the ocean. "Go see him, Ryoko," he whispered as he leaned against her bare legs.

Laughter came from Ryoko, "Don't give me that look…" she grumbled when she had suddenly noticed that Puck was giving her the puppy eyes. Pausing for a brief moment, Ryoko thought of what to tell him. "It's better if I don't see him ever again…" Ryoko's hand reached down below the rock as she carefully ruffled his silver hair.

Puck pushed himself away from the rock, "But you've known him since he was born, Ryoko…" Staring her down stubbornly, Puck finally dropped the subject when she appeared to be on the verge of tears. "Do you regret any of it?" he whispered to Ryoko as he turned his back on her to watch the purple hue in the sky turn to blue and then to black.

_Regret? Is he talking about me regretting ending up with him instead of Tenchi_? Jumping off her jagged rock, Ryoko went behind Puck and wrapped her arms around his waist. Sighing loudly, she rested her head on the edge of his shoulder as she gave him a tight hug. Ryoko wanted to give him a truthful answer, she thought long and hard about her past-even to before she had met Tenchi. Finally, she spoke of what she really regretted, "I wish I could have found you sooner…" she whispered sweetly in his ear.

A smirk spread across Puck's lips, "You are lying," he muttered coyly as he turned his head to the right to see her soft yellow eyes.

Shaking her head in reply, Ryoko gave him another tight hug, "If I had met you sooner, I would have had a real home…" she sighed solemnly. "If I had met you sooner-I would have known what it had felt like to be loved back…" Ryoko stopped when Puck touched her hands and held them tightly.

"I believe you, Ryoko…always have…" Puck released her hands as he turned to face her with a weak smile. "I regret that we met under the circumstances that we did," scratching the back of his head, Puck gave Ryoko an uneasy look. "Of course, with that all said…" Puck started to dig into his pockets in his vest to find something. "Damnit where is it-" he grumbled after a few moments of searching all of his pockets. He regained his coolness as he reached for Ryoko's left hand and slipped something onto her finger, "Will you marry me then?"

Tears filled the corners of Ryoko's yellow eyes, "Why wouldn't I say no?" she laughed as she jumped up and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I love you too much to say no…" she winked as the two kissed.

Slyly, Puck twirled her around in the sand and stopped her a few inches away from him. "We could go to Sanurai for our honeymoon," he whispered as he dramatically pulled her closer to him.

Ryoko gave him an odd expression, "Isn't Sanurai the place where they have solid gold statues of every emperor in that galaxy?" she whispered as her eyes began to sparkle with joy.

"Precisely, my dear…"

_**THE END**_


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